The Twelve Days of Kingdom Hearts
by Regardless1604
Summary: Xemnas calls off Christmas for the Organization this year due to them slacking off when it comes to completing Kingdom Hearts. But can some mysterious gifts and unwanted Christmas cheer change the Superior's mind? Maybe. A whiny Organization XIII? No way.
1. Chapter I

**Okay, so I've had this idea in my head for a while now. I thought about how there's twelve members in Organization XIII (minus Roxas and Xion) and how there are the twelve days of Christmas. Then this story was born! Anywho, I'll be publishing one chapter every day, starting today, up until Christmas. Twelve chapters for the first twelve members.**

**But first I have to say that I've twisted around the 358/2 Days timeline just a little for this story, which I really hope you don't mind. Yes, Roxas and Xion are in this story, but this takes place sometime after they're friends with Axel, but before half of the Organization gets destroyed at Castle Oblivion. So I messed with the events... just a little. Got that? I hope you enjoy :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts-that belongs to Square Enix.**

**Chapter One :: A Partridge in a Pear Tree**

"Please, Xemnas? Pretty, pretty please with hearts on top!" he heard Demyx's voice whine.

Xemnas massaged his temples. This was all he had been hearing for the past week. First it was Roxas and Xion. Then they encouraged Axel to chime in. And Demyx. Now all four of them were nagging his ears off.

You see, our beloved Superior had been quite the Scrooge in this season of joy and peace. Every time Christmas came around, nothing would get done. The Organization would either obsess over decorating or baking or anything else Christmassy. At this rate, Kingdom Hearts would never be completed. It was just about enough to make him sneer and say "Bah humbug." He would've been better off if that cursed Christmas Town had never been found.

So, I'm sure you can imagine how Organization XIII reacted to the announcement Xemnas gave during the last meeting in the Round Room.

"What do you mean, 'We're not celebrating Christmas this year'?" Axel demanded.

Xemnas sighed. "You heard me correctly. You all never pay attention to anything that matters during this season. So therefore, we are skipping Christmas all together this year."

"But… I've never spent Christmas here before…" Xion said sadly.

"Yeah! And Axel told us how great they are." Roxas put in.

"No."

"Please?" Roxas and Xion gave the puppy dog eyes of death and extended bottom lip.

They could get anyone to do what they wanted with that face—it was irresistible. Almost. Xemnas forced himself to look away and set his jaw. An eerie silence settled over the room of Nobodies. No one was ever able to resist the Bambi Eyes. _No one_.

There was silence for several minutes until one brave soul spoke out. "But I was always… intrigued by finding the biggest Christmas tree so we could brag."

That brave soul was none other than Saïx. The Superior's second in command. The Lunar Diviner. Mr. No-Nonsense-Do-What-I-Tell-You-Or-Face-My-Wrath. And he liked cutting down and decorating the biggest fir tree in the universe so that even the President of the United States would be jealous.

Xemnas restrained his frustration. "You all shall go about your normal duties as you always do; those are my orders. You are dismissed."

So, for the past week, nothing but irritating whines came from outside his door. Of course, Axel claimed he was there watching the two young keybladers, and Demyx openly admitted that he wanted Christmas _now_, but Xemnas didn't care. He was fed up. One more nagging voice and he would—

"Pleeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaase?"

This was it—his final nerve. He shook with unspeakable power and an empty feeling he considered to be "rage" blurred his vision. The room started to glow, and the others could sense it even from outside.

"Scatter!" Axel's voice said, and the footsteps ran frantically away.

"Enough! _No Christmas_!" Xemnas's voice roared so loud the entire World That Never Was could hear him.

The energy eventually calmed down, and no voices came from outside of his door. There was only silence; calm, sweet silence. But his peace was clouded by an uncanny feeling that had settled in his empty chest. Xemnas walked to the door of his room, preparing himself for _something_, whatever the weirdness was that he sensed.

The door opened, but nothing was there. Xemnas stuck his head out of the door to look down the halls. Nothing. He sighed a breath of relief that he knew nobody—er, not Nobody, but more like… no one—would hear. And so, with a new relief, the Superior shut the door and turned around, just to almost have a nonexistent heart attack.

There, sitting in the middle of his room, was a small tree with Christmas colored ribbons rapped all around it. How it had gotten there, he had no idea. Surely it wasn't there when he had gotten up…?

The Nobody walked cautiously over to the potted tree. "Marluxia," He sneered, but saw something else. A small bird peered up at him; this couldn't be of XI's doing. He wouldn't put some kind of bird in his own plant, or a… note card? Xemnas picked it up and read it: _On the first day Christmas, - gave to you a partridge in a pear tree._ There was a line where a name should've been. "What in the name of Kingdom Hearts is this foolery?"

The Superior figured this was some prank by one of the Nobodies, so, picking up the small pear tree while squeezing the bird in his other hand, he headed for the Gray Area.

* * *

><p>Saïx and Xigbar were the only ones in the congregational hall when Xemnas arrived, and seeing their leader visit took them by faint surprise.<p>

"My Superior, may I ask what you are doing here?" Saïx asked after a slight bow, looking at the strange objects.

Without any formalities, Xemnas held out his new presents. "I demand the meaning of these."

Xigbar walked over to his superior and examined the stuff, including the note card. "Hmm, looks like the boss man's got a secret admirer of some sort."

"But how could they get into the castle?" Saïx wondered out loud.

Xigbar shrugged it off. "Who knows? Maybe they're _in_ the castle." And without another word, the Freeshooter created a dark corridor and walked away to a mission.

Xemnas didn't quite get what number II was implying, but another thought donned on him. "What if this is from a Heartless which is in the castle right now? I must go find it and rid of its presence." Xemnas left for his room before Saïx could tell him that perhaps Xigbar meant that it was one of the other members, like Xemnas had first thought.

Determined that there was an intruder in the fortress, Xemnas called for the Dusks to put up the defense system of the Castle That Never Was. After the whirring noises of the high security sounded, he headed back down the white halls to his room. Sensing something wrong, or maybe it was that he was a tad bit paranoid (which he would never admit openly), the Superior summoned his Ethereal Blades and slid open the door to his living quarters, acting quite fearless—if he could even feel any fear, that is.

And now, what stood in his way was more treacherous than any Heartless that had dared to cross his path. In the mere five or so minutes he had been gone, the once bleak and expressionless room was now glittering with red and green lights, presents that said "_Don't open till Christmas!_" written on them, and—to his nonexistent horror—air fresheners were plugged into the outlets, giving off smells of nutmeg and pine.

"Perhaps some wretched Christmas Town Heartless…?" he wondered aloud. He began ripping the fresheners out of their sockets, remembering Christmas from when he still had a heart. He had hated it back then too. It was just a lousy excuse for gift-giving and decorating and… _pointless_ good cheer. The very thought of those words left a bitter taste in his mouth. Most of Ansem's other apprentices enjoyed the holiday to its fullest, and obviously nothing had changed, even after losing their hearts. Xemnas snarled at the thought. They were _Nobodies_, they weren't supposed to look for something to make them reminisce the good ol' days.

Even after leaving the aromatic cartridges on the floor as a pile of ash, the Christmas smell was still there. His nose wrinkled at it, and the little partridge's big eyes weren't helping. It tipped its head curiously at him, as if to say "_I liked those_."

"What do you want from me?" He demanded from the bird. It just tipped its head the other way in response.

As Xemnas continued his stare-down with the bird, the lights had been neglected to be taken down and the door hadn't been closed. And so, lost in his self-righteousness against the partridge, the Superior sensed the other Nobodies' presences too late.

Roxas and Xion stared wide-eyed into the festive room. And as fast as they had appeared, they were gone, leaving Xemnas no time to seal their lips himself. The door was closed in an instant, and with one more glare at the inferior being, he began ripping the lights off the walls and shoving the presents into any available hiding spots. No sooner than the majority of the presence of Christmas had been stripped away from the naked eye had a knock come at the door.

Xemnas didn't respond as he tripped over a loose cord. Picking himself up, he listened with annoyance to Axel's hesitant voice.

"Uh, Superior? You in there?" Without waiting for a response, the pyro continued. "I heard from the kids that you've decided to decorate for the holidays. Does that mean you've changed your mind, or what?"

Xemnas sighed and walked over to the door, and opened it a crack. "No, VIII, I have not. Now heed my word and leave."

Axel sniffed the air. "Is that the slightest hint of… pine, that I smell?" He smirked enough for his superior to see.

"No, your nose is playing tricks on you."

A new set of footsteps was heard. "I believe you are correct, Axel. And perhaps there's some nutmeg mixed in with it?" Zexion's voice came smoothly, and he kept walking on.

Xemnas bit his tongue. _Curse VI and his sensible nose_…

"That's what I thought—"

"_VIII_," Xemnas cut off Axel sharply. "If you have no business here, be gone already."

"Oh yeah, about that, I wanted to talk about our, uh, raises. We've been working extra hard ever since you _cancelled_ Christmas." he said it with obvious distaste. "And I've been short on munny to buy ice cream with—"

He sighed. "No raises,"

"Oh, and our moogle's come down with a terrible case of the mumps, and—"

"Just get onto what you _really_ want to say," Xemnas growled.

"That _is_ what I wanted to tell you! Oh, and do you mind if I come in? There's some private things I need to discuss with you—"

He rubbed his forehead. "VIII, if you only wish to come in so that you may see the 'decorations' and 'Christmas cheer' I've supposedly surrounded myself with, you may come in and see for yourself that XIII and XIV were mistaken." Without looking back, Xemnas opened the door, believing the room was clean enough.

Axel smiled and walked into the room, his eyes immediately falling onto George. Er, the partridge that was resting in its pear tree. It's not like the Superior had named it George or anything, because that would be dumb. Totally lame.

"What's that?" He pointed at the mysterious gift.

Xemnas silently cursed himself for leaving George—er, the bird—out in the open, but quickly regained his emotionless composure. "I was hoping that perhaps you could answer that question." he covered up his mistake.

Axel walked over to the tree and turned the note card over in his hand. He scratched the back of his head in confusion. "Hmm… not sure." he took a few more suspicious looks around, and appeared to be satisfied with the plain old white room.

Xemnas sighed with relief inwardly, but, of course, _nothing_ wanted to cooperate that day. Axel's boot caught on the same wire that the Superior's had, and he bent down to examine it. After pulling the entire tangled mess of Christmas lights out from under the bed, he smiled.

"And I suppose that this is—"

"Just get out." he growled. "And… before you tell everyone about this little… misconception, let them know we shall be having a meeting in the Round Room tomorrow."

Axel mock saluted, dropped the colorful wire, and marched out of the room.

Xemnas sighed. His Organization was a group of all-powerful Nobodies, who weren't afraid to break the rules—to manipulate people to get what they wanted, to hurt the innocent, to send the Heartless out to do what they wanted. They used whatever means necessary to achieve their goals, and didn't feel a drop of remorse for their actions. Xemnas rarely doubted their skills to get the job done.

Now they all wanted to celebrate Christmas against his will. Where, oh _where_, had he gone so _wrong_?

After the door was sealed shut, Xemnas noticed George staring intently at him, amused light seeming to dance in its eyes.

He glared at the bird again. "Just shut up already."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Okay, the next chapter will be posted tomorrow! Reviews are always appreciated :D**


	2. Chapter II

**Thanks for the reviews, guys! Today's chapter is focused on Xigbar, I hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Organization XIII. Those belong to Square Enix.**

**Chapter Two :: Two Turtledoves**

Meetings meant nothing to Xigbar. Like most of the other members in Organization XIII, he dreaded them, and yawned the whole way through. He enjoyed letting the Superior know that he was bored and would rather be fighting a mob of rabid fangirls. Okay, maybe not _that_ far.

So, when Axel called that there would be a meeting, our second Organization member planned on conveniently being on a mission so he wouldn't have to here Xemnas drawl on about Kingdom Hearts and all of its "glory." It was a good plan, even though he would still have to crawl around the rules in order to get Saïx to give him a mission, though a meeting had been called all ready.

But only one thing stopped him: the smirk that was daring to turn into a crazy smile on Axel's face. Now the Nobody was curious, though he wasn't ready to share his interest. So, putting on a bored look, he swung by his room before dark corridoring to the Round Room. And oh what a surprise awaited Xigbar.

When he opened the door, the room looked the same as always, except that there were tan feathers sprinkled around on the floor, along with less than appealing splotches that looked as though they belonged to a bird.

"What the…?" Xigbar looked around for what had made the mess. Then he found the culprits.

Two birds were perched on the head board of his bed, their feathers matching the ones all over the room. The room's owner looked at the birds, then at the mess, then back at the birds.

"Not cool," he shook his head, then summoned his twin arrowguns. Two guns for two pests. And like always, Fate decided to swoop down with amazing speed and help the birds escape from being hit by the purple ammo. And so, because the World That Never Was still had even a _basic_ grasp of physics, the bullets planted themselves in the wall, just above his bed.

Xigbar swore, aimed again, and shot at the birds. Again, he missed. The Nobody blinked a few times, then examined his guns. They _always _hit their targets, but for some reason, those dang birds wouldn't just get shot all ready!

Not only did this frustrate him, but it also left crystals stuck at all angles in his walls and ceiling.

"If you two don't want to work," Xigbar said, then dismissed his weapons. "Then I just have to get those things myself."

The Nobody started hopping around, trying to catch the birds, but they just wouldn't fall into his hands. Finally, he decided to warp the space around them, and managed to grab one bird. He smiled wickedly, scar and eye patch adding to the affect.

"You thought you could get away from me? Hah, as if!"

Clutching the bird tightly, he turned it over in his hands. A note was attached to its leg, and Xigbar tore it off. Oh, the note, not the leg.

"On the second day of Christmas, - gave to you two turtledoves." He read aloud to himself. "What the—wait, Xemnas had one of these thingies yesterday too." He tried to figure it out, then remembered there was a meeting that day. He threw the bird behind his shoulder, and it flapped its wings immediately.

Xigbar looked back at the birds and pointed his finger. "Stay." After that command, he created a dark corridor to his throne in the Round Room, the slightest bit curious to know what exactly was going on.

He must have spent more time trying to catch the birds than he had thought. Surprisingly, Xigbar was the last one in the room, all the other Nobodies were in their seats all ready.

Xemnas had apparently been in the middle of saying something, and he sent the latecomer a dangerous look. He then cleared his throat. "As I was saying, whichever one of you thought that this may have been even the slightest bit _funny_, it—is—not." He slammed his fist on the side of his chair. "It is direct blasphemy to my orders, and—"

Before he could continue, and before Xigbar could even comprehend what was being said, Demyx raised his hand. Xemnas sighed. "What is it, IX?"

Demyx tapped his index fingers together nervously. "Uh, Sir, we don't even know what you're talking about." He then got distracted my Axel's quiet snickering. "Well, except Axel, I think… But does this have something to do with Christmas? Are we celebrating it after all!" he asked hopefully. "I mean, uh, continue what you were saying. Why are we here again?"

Xemnas looked indignant to explain himself. But before saying anything else, he summoned a small potted tree to appear in the middle of the room. All the Nobodies looked down.

"That—" the Superior started. "—came to me yesterday. I want to know which one of you _fools_ plagued my room with it, along with Christmas décor and—" he swallowed hard. "—and _presents_. I demand an explanation!"

The Organization didn't really listen to the last part. _Xemnas's room was decorated for Christmas_? _No way! We're celebrating Christmas after all!_

Roxas and Xion were grinning widely at the thought, and quite a few of the other Nobodies started talking excitedly. Some of them didn't talk at all, or even smile, but it could be seen that they were looking forward to it. Xigbar, on the other hand, wasn't sure what to think amidst the babble.

Xemnas took a few deep breathes, trying to keep in his frustration at the rowdy bunch. "Order!" The Nobodies all quieted down at his voice, strong and clear, and most definitely commanding. "I want to know how this junk got into my room."

No one answered. The Superior sighed again. "Well, then—" he looked around the room before continuing, but he double-took when his eyes scanned past Xigbar. "II, _what_ are those and _why_ are they fluttering above your head?" his voice came testily.

Xigbar hadn't noticed anything, but he looked up. Above his chair, the two turtledoves flapped around, then perched on the top like it was where they had always sat.

"How did you two…?" Xigbar muttered, then turned back to Xemnas. "Why should I know? I found them in my room, and—" he stopped himself before he could tell them how he had missed every time he shot at them. That wouldn't be very good for his reputation as a gunman.

"Go on," Xemnas eyed the birds.

"Ah, well…" he tried to think of something else to say, and then remembered something. He pulled a small piece of paper out of his pocket. "There was this weird note attached to one bird's leg, like the one you got yesterday."

A startled flash passed through the Superior's face, but his expression returned to being emotionless right away. "And it says?"

"Uh," he unrolled it. "'On the second day of Christmas'—well, there's a line where a name should be."

Xemnas sat back in his chair, not satisfied. "Well then… what else does it say?"

"After the nameless line thingy… it says, 'Gave to you two turtledoves.' Which I'm guessin' that's what those two troublemakers are." he waved his hand toward the "gifts."

Xemnas looked down at his own gift thoughtfully, and spoke again a few moments later. "Ah… almost exactly like the note that was attached to the tree…"

The Organization wasn't sure what to think about this, and after a few dull moments, Roxas spoke up. "So… we _are_ celebrating Christmas, right?"

"No! I did not say that!" Xemnas growled at the subject being brought up again at such a random time.

"But… why did you call us here?"

Xemnas rubbed his forehead. "In attempts to figure out what this tomfoolery is. But since _obviously_ no one knows—" he said with a sarcastic hint in his voice. Who knew Xemnas could do that? "You all are dismissed. But I did not say that we would be celebrating that _holiday_." he said _holiday_ like it was a curse.

A semi-unanimous "Aww," was put up, but Xemnas ignored it. Since the meeting was called to be closed, he corridored away from his throne. _Probably to rant about our 'infuriating incompetence' to Kingdom Hearts, _Xigbar thought wryly.

Once the Superior's presence was gone, the room burst into a yelling madhouse.

Axel shook his head and looked down at the floor. "I was sure he was gonna say yes…"

Demyx was yelling something and his hand motions went so wild, he fell out of his chair, all the way to the ground. "I'm okay!" he called up to the others. "I think…"

Xigbar wasn't really sure that he cared. His mind was still on the birds and how in Kingdom Hearts they had followed him. He hadn't remembered them in the dark corridor when he passed through it. And he was still bothered by the fact that he couldn't shoot them… He wasn't even sure what a turtledove was, other than something associated with Christmas. Maybe they were special birds… Besides, in _both_ of his lives, he had seen things way weirder than mystical Christmas birds that were hard to shoot down.

Then he got an idea. _Hard to shoot down? I could always use some advanced target practice…_

So, while half of Organization XIII was squabbling, Xigbar slipped out to a training room. Besides, he wasn't much in the mood for arguing over whether they should have Christmas or not. Even when he was still Braig, the special holiday only meant a break off of work and parties to him. He never really felt or gave off the 'good cheer' that Christmas entailed. He had been more on the evil side to be doing things like that. His heart had been too cold, his light too extinguished to be happy about the numerous holidays each year.

Xigbar grimaced as he remembered different things: sitting on the side with Xehanort while the other apprentices did stupid Christmas stuff, throwing away most of the gifts he received, losing his girl that one Christmas… he shook the thought out of his mind. He didn't feel like being sentimental. He didn't even _have_ the heart to feel sadness with.

So as he turned his attention to something else—namely the two birds that had managed to follow him everywhere he went that day—the depressing memories were dispelled.

Xigbar summoned both of his arrowguns and looked around the bleak grey room. Sure enough, the turtledoves were flying around, out of the Nobody's reach. The Freeshooter quickly loaded his special weapons with the flick of his wrists, and aimed easily at the birds.

"You guys think you can _really_ get away from me?" he chuckled, fingers on the triggers. "As if."

For the rest of the day, shots could be heard from the training room, and the owner of the guns was completely oblivious to the intruders entering his room. They were decorating it with all things Christmas and leaving presents around the room, as if Santy Claus himself came all the way from Christmas Town just to leave a little cheer in the life of this cheerless Nobody. Well, Xigbar didn't know for a time, that is.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Tomorrow's chapter is about Xaldin, I hope you're looking forward to it :)**


	3. Chapter III

**Ah, I really do love Xaldin and his epik sideburns :D Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.**

**Chapter Three :: Three French Hens**

_Christmas? Yes, the holiday does indeed take away from work, but Kingdom Hearts shall be completed soon. How much could one month's time take away from its completion, though? Besides, how often do we get a break? Almost never._

These were thoughts that Xaldin often experienced when it came to the controversial topic of whether or not to celebrate Christmas. A break would be good, but he was quite dedicated to getting his heart back, no matter what had to be manipulated to do so.

And besides, when he was still his complete Somebody—Dilan—between his job as a Royal Guard in Radiant Garden and being one of Ansem's apprentices, he was quite busy. He didn't get lengthy holiday breaks, though he did spend a few nights off to celebrate numerous holidays with the other apprentices. He was used to working around the clock.

In the safe hiding place of his dark corridor, Xaldin pondered on about how the other Organization members had reacted to Xemnas's announcement. _Why should I also make unnecessary commotion about this? The others are just blowing this issue out of proportion. In fact, Christmas is only— _The Nobody stopped mid-thought.

Xaldin bit back a curse. While watching for Beast to come out, he had missed his chance to act upon the creature's emotions, having been lost in thought. This Christmas issue was clouding his mind and caused his plans to mess up. It really was not worth it to think about the holiday at all; it was only causing him problems.

So, having to re-plan his actions to avoid any possible mistakes, Xaldin headed back to the Castle That Never Was. Reappearing in his room, the tall Nobody walked past the chickens to mark his failed attempt at Beast's Castle off his list. Wait, chickens? He turned back, sharp purple eyes looking at the birds. There were three of them, eating light yellow feed off of his floor.

He was about to storm off to the Gray Area and figure out who had dirtied his room with these filthy little monsters. What stopped him, though, was that he remembered what Xemnas and Xigbar had said at the meeting the day before. Strange birds had appeared in their rooms also, with notes attached.

And so the Nobody searched for a tag on the chickens, but all he found were eggs. Coincidence had it that he should accidently crush one of the fragile shells under his large boot, leaving yolk all over the floor and his shoe.

"I shall have that cleaned later by the culprit of this _pathetic_ joke." He muttered to himself, trying to scrape the egg off of his shoe.

Continuing his search for the fabled note, the Whirlwind Lancer ran across a sackcloth bag of chicken feed in the corner of his plain room. He decided that it was probably where the chickens had gotten food from, and found the white note card he was looking for attached to it.

"There you are," He picked it up and read the fancy script aloud. "'On the third day of Christmas, - gave to you three French hens.'" He pondered the card, seeing nothing more on it. "Hmm… exactly like the others.'" Xaldin slipped the card into his pocket and created a dark corridor aimed for the Gray Area.

Before he stepped into the portal, though, he took one last look at the chickens, resisting the urge to skewer them with one of his lances. Practically deciding that it would just make a bigger mess, the Nobody stepped into the swirling darkness.

* * *

><p>Arriving in the Gray Area, Xaldin looked behind himself to make sure the hens had not followed him. Remembering how Xigbar claimed his own birds were following him, he did not want the chance of being humiliated by having a pack of farm animals following him through the castle.<p>

Looking around the room, he only saw Xigbar and Zexion sitting on the couches, and Saïx was standing next to the window, blue hair illuminated by the light of Kingdom Hearts. Figuring that Xigbar was the only other one in the room who had mentioned that he had received a "gift" of the like, he walked over to his comrade.

"What's up?" Xigbar asked as the other member approached him.

"I would like to know what exactly happened yesterday. Regarding the, ah, birds you obtained." he cut right to the point.

Xigbar's expression turned sour. "Eh, I don't know nothin' about what happened. I just walked into my room and—BAM!—random birds were flyin' around!"

Xaldin blinked. That was much like what had happened to him, well, minus the "BAM!" "Did you ever… rid of them?"

"That don't matter!" Xigbar snapped, then settled down again. "But what're you doing wondering about this stuff? Have you gotten all the Christmas decorations in yet too?"

Xaldin raised an eyebrow at the unexpected reaction and strange question, but continued nonetheless. "Ah, I do not believe so, but I have gotten three birds in my room, and a note much like yours with it." he said with distaste.

Faint interest passed over Xigbar's face, but he pushed it aside. "Whatever. I can't help ya, dude, it aint my problemo."

Xaldin walked away, not satisfied with this unhelpful answer. But as he started to walk out of the Gray Area, Zexion stopped him.

"You say that you are having the problem as the others?" the periwinkle haired Nobody asked with interest. "Do you mind if I take a look?"

Xaldin nodded, and led him to the messy room. But when he opened the door, what was inside was _not_ what Xaldin _or_ Zexion was expecting.

Gifts were strewn around the room, lights hung up on the walls, a mini decorated Christmas tree was in the corner, and holiday scented candles were lit and sitting upon the few pieces of furniture in the room. And, of course, the chickens were still pecking along.

Zexion sniffed the air. "This is the same smell that came from the Superior's room two days ago…" he pondered out loud. "Perhaps this is what he was talking about at the meeting yesterday."

Xaldin just stared into the room, and after the initial shock, he slammed the door close. "I refuse to go in there. That is _not_ my room."

Zexion shook his head. "We must. You want your room back to normal—completely chicken free—and I want some information. So, Xaldin, we must go in."

The Nobody grimaced, not wishing to see the inside again. But it was still opened, and the holiday atmosphere hit the two in the face right away, again. After they were inside, Xaldin shut the door immediately so that no one could possibly see the horrors also.

"Well, what do we do now?" Xaldin asked. "You're the one with the ideas."

Zexion looked around the room. "Well, I have an idea of what to do with the chickens, but the rest of this—" he motioned around the room. "I don't know. You could probably dispose of them somewhere, or give them to Roxas or Xion. Or maybe Demyx or Axel, I'm sure they would appreciate it also, being the utter _children_ they are."

"But I do not think the Superior would appreciate that."

"As I said, they're just children; I'm sure they could get away with it. Besides, why get caught with it yourself?" Zexion smirked.

Xaldin frowned. "No, that would not be good. Why don't we start taking them down and then decide what to do with this stuff."

"Hmm… no. _You_ start taking the decorations down; it is your room after all." Zexion pointed out. "And if you don't mind, I need to look around. I'm forming an idea about just what all of this has to do with. Do you still have the note?"

Xaldin sighed through his nose and pulled the mysterious piece of paper from the pocket of his Organization coat. Zexion took it right away and examined it carefully before putting it into his own pocket. "I'll have Vexen examine this for me soon." he confirmed, and continued looking around the room.

Xaldin sighed inwardly and started tearing the decorations down, forgetting to be careful so that others could use them. Soon, the candles were put out, and the lights, tree, and presents were all shoved into a corner. He glowered at the stuff, then looked back to Zexion. "What now?"

The tactician was still looking thoughtfully at the cheery objects. "Well, we take these things away, and—" he turned to the chickens, who were still making a mess of feathers and nasty splotches on the floor.

"Well, get the stuff, and I'll get the chickens. First Stop: Demyx's room." Zexion opened the door, herding the chickens along with him. Xaldin wasn't sure how he did it.

Demyx's room, being the closest, was only a few paces down the hall, but the Nobody felt extremely uncomfortable dragging along a bunch of _children's _stuff. They soon arrived at Demyx's room, and didn't care to knock before throwing the door open.

The other Nobody was sitting on his bed, whining to some unseen people. Once the others stepped inside, the room's other occupations—being Axel, Roxas, and Xion—stopped their conversation immediately. Their eyes widened at the two very unexpected visitors—first at the forbidden Christmas decorations, then at the… chickens.

"What is… all that?" Axel motioned to the things.

"Just some unwanted gifts." Xaldin replied, and dropped it in the middle of the room. "Enjoy them." The two Nobodies started walking out of the room, but were stopped when Demyx spoke up.

"Wait… so, does this mean Xemnas changed his mind?" the musician asked a little hesitantly, then perked back up. "We're having Christmas after all!"

Xaldin stopped before he shut the door. "You could say that. But… you didn't hear anything from me."

The Nobodies smiled. "Thanks!" And the door shut, leaving them to do some secret decorating.

Xaldin turned to Zexion once again. "And the chickens?"

He smiled. "I have a few good recipes. And who knows, I am always up for a little bit of holiday cooking."

And so, a few hours later, Organization XIII had three holiday styled French hens, cooked to perfection, thanks to Xaldin. And Zexion too, of course.

But as Xaldin looked down at his plate of food, he couldn't help but wonder if they really _wouldn't_ have Christmas that year. He agreed with Xemnas—it wasted precious time they could be using to complete Kingdom Hearts. He held back a grimace at remembering how his own plan to speed up the process failed that day, due to mindless wondering.

But still, Christmas was a special tradition, and even though he was rather cruel and manipulative, Xaldin wouldn't mind celebrating it—but whether it was celebrated or not wasn't up to him. But maybe… if he could get some useful payment from those who wanted the holiday, perhaps he could talk to the Superior about celebrating it, regardless of what he had said before. After all, Xaldin _did_ have a way with words.

He smiled intently. Yes, maybe this _could_ be a good Christmas in the end.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Next up is Vexen! And reviews are appreciated!**


	4. Chapter IV

**I must admit, I'm not fond of Vexen. _At all_. I mean, I even laughed when Axel destroyed him, and I still find that scene enjoyable. But... I think this chapter turned out well, probably the best so far. I didn't even character bash him in it!**

**Disclaimer: Nope, I still don't own Kingdom Hearts.**

**Chapter Four :: Four Colly Birds**

"Vexen,"

"Vexen,"

"Vexen,"

"Ngh…" the Nobody rolled over, trying to stay asleep, despite whoever was calling his name repeatedly.

"Vexen,"

"I'm trying to sleep…"

"Vexen!"

"Go away! Stupid children…" he threw his pillow at the door.

"Vexen! Vexen! Vexen!"

"Gah! Who is there and what do you want?" Vexen shot up in his bed, fuming. He looked at the door, but no one was there.

"Vexen!"

"Ah!" he looked around with utmost annoyance and summoned Frozen Pride. He jumped to his feet and looked around the room. "Who goes there?"

"Vexen!" the annoying voice came again.

Then the Nobody spotted the speaker. Actually, the speaker_s_. Four black birds were perched on his dresser, cocking their heads at the man and calling his name. "Vexen!"

"Silence, I tell you!" he summoned a piece of ice and shot it at the birds. He was in no mood to go about being humane in this situation. Besides, he was too tired to even wonder why these mysterious birds were in his room or how they were talking, even if they were only calling his name.

The birds merely flew out of the way and continued their calls of "Vexen!"

Not really caring about the destruction he was causing, Vexen shot ice all over his room, trying to kill the birds.

"Vexen?"

"I told you to shut up!" he blabbered in his nonexistent anger, and, without looking first, shot another large chunk of ice at the door, where he had thought the voice had come from.

There was a sound of the attack being blocked, and the Nobody turned to meet his visitor. A large floating book was outspread, protecting the person. It disappeared after a moment and Zexion looked around the room. "What _are_ you doing, Vexen?"

"Ah, Zexion. Don't you know better than to barge into a man's room without knocking first?" he demanded. "Young people these days…"

"Yes, but really, this is no time for formalities." Zexion replied, and stepped further into the room. "I believe that these birds are exactly what I was expecting."

"What _are_ you talking about?" he shook his head and looked impatiently at the birds.

Without explaining himself, the other Nobody created an illusion of a bird cage, entrapping two of the black birds. He walked over and rummaged inside, looking for something.

Vexen craned his neck to look, not happy that the illusionist was not explaining himself. He flinched every time one of the birds squawked out "Vexen!"

"That should do it." Zexion stood back up. "I think this is for you." he handed him a piece of paper.

"Hmm… now what is this?" he took it and quickly skimmed over the words. _On the fourth day of Christmas, - gave to you four calling birds._ Naturally, he turned the note skeptically to see if anything was written on the other side. He looked back in horror.

Zexion cocked an eyebrow in slight amusement. "Interesting. All the other notes received so far had nothing written on the back. Whoever is leaving these _obviously_ has some against you."

Vexen looked at the card once more in disgust. The other side read: _To the creepy old geezer_. He turned the card over again so he wouldn't have to look at those wretched words, then looked irritably at Zexion. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"What are you here for?"

"Ah, yes," he looked back at the birds, then to Vexen. "I have a favor to ask of you."

"If it has anything to do with this, I shall have nothing of it!" the scientist declared, and threw the stiff note card to Zexion, Chain of Memories style.

He caught it in the same fashion, then threw it back at its owner the same way. "No, I really need this done. If you will not do it for me, then I will go into your laboratory and do it myself."

"N-no! What do you need, _exactly_?" he asked testily.

"Well, I need you to run some tests. See if you can find anything else on your own note and this one." he threw him the one the Xaldin had received the prior day.

Vexen examined it, then tucked it into his pocket with the other one. "Well, if you absolutely _insist_ on me doing this, I have a right to know what this is all about!"

Zexion turned to leave. "I'm just forming an idea about what these gifts have to do with. Whoever is leaving these… they could be detrimental to Organization XIII."

"Wait,"

"What is it?"

"What will I get out of this? Clearly I do not wish to do these ridiculous experiments _just_ to further your supposed hypothesis." Vexen said irritably.

"We'll think of something. Now, get me the results as soon as possible. We need to know how to stop this before it gets out of hand." And with that, Zexion walked away.

Vexen glowered at the black birds. "Four calling birds, eh…"

"Vexen!"

"Gah! Could you think of something else to say?" he demanded, then dark corridored away before his name could be called again.

* * *

><p>Reappearing outside of his lab, Vexen took out the two pieces of paper and scowled at them. "Just because I'm the <em>only<em> Nobody in Organization XIII who is actually still considered to be a scientist does not mean they should all come asking for my help with these things!" he muttered. "After all, all the founding members were once scientists too, so—" he didn't get to finish that thought.

When the door was opened, Vexen fumbled around for the light. When he found it, his eyes bulged. "No, this is _very_ bad." he ran further into the laboratory and closed the door, then looked around in horror. "No!"

To Vexen, the large room was like a nightmare before Christmas. Literally. Posters of a jolly man with a snow white beard dressed in red were tacked up over his diagrams and scrolls that hung on the wall, twinkling lights lined the ceiling, and gold and silver Christmas tinsel were laced neatly around the numerous test tubes and beakers.

"No, no, no! My laboratory!" Vexen wailed, tearing down the decorations. "It is ruining all my past research!" Of course, in that infamous, over-relished effect Vexen emitted when he was annoyed, the Nobody accidently tore the blueprints and a few beakers shattered on the ground.

Vexen paced around the room fuming, observing the damage. "Is that why Zexion had me come down here? Did he do this as some retribution for some wrong I did to him?" the scientist considered. "No, he would never. Or would he…? No matter, I'll just do the task and have him clean this place up in return." he smiled in his not-so-pleasant way. "And have him restore all of my damaged supplies, twofold than was destroyed!" he laughed, and knocked some tinsel off of his supplies. "Yes, a good plan indeed."

Vexen soon got to work on what he did best: experimenting, researching, marking down equations on a clear board, and gathering data. But the results he got did not satisfy him. They made no sense.

He worked several more hours, tediously experimenting with all the elements that were on the two note cards, hardly noticing the huge mess that was piling up, Christmas decorations and science material alike. Give Vexen a challenge, and, well, he'll get his answers. The older Nobody did not enjoy being showed up.

Finally, he slammed his fist on the metal lab table, making a hollow _clang_ in doing so. "Confound it…" he muttered. Then another thought dawned on him. "Results are results, and that is all he wanted, so I shall give them to him. Zexion will still have to fill my favor, and I'll be content." he wiped the sweat off of his forehead, and stared warily at the pile of decorations.

Seeing them took him back to Even's life—a hollow, meaningless one. He had never found the holidays worth spending, having better things to do. Even as a child… the only thing about Christmas he cared for was the chemistry set he got each year. His life had always revolved around science; he saw no need for anything else, even pleasure. It annoyed him that his colleagues tried to get him to spend the holidays with them. He had no passion, no love for anything but science. Yes, he called them friends, but there was only one person he truly cared for: Ienzo.

He cared deeply for the boy ever since Ansem had brought him to stay at the castle. The man often became frantic when the child was missing, or when he didn't come home at sunset. Though Ienzo was the only thing that penetrated warmth into his cold heart, Even had never known how to express his fatherly love for him. The only way he could show it was by rearing the boy properly, so that he could grow up to be a proper young man and a good scientist. _So that he could live the fulfilling life Even never had_.

That was all he could do, so when the other apprentices suggested that he do something special for Christmas one year, he spat at them. "That is absolutely preposterous!"

"Come now, Even, you know the child would like it." Aeleus prompted.

"Dressing up like a fabled jolly fat man in a red suit is unethical! How is it supposed to prophet Ienzo? How is trying to teach him that Santa is real—when he _obviously_ is not—going to benefit him?" he spluttered.

"He is only a child, Even." Ansem widened his eyes at him. "He only lost his parents a few years ago. We should try to keep the whimsical childlike spirit in him as long as we can!"

"But it is exactly that. _Childish_."

"But he _is_ a child." Dilan pointed out.

"Why can't any of _you_ do it?" Even asked skeptically. "Xehanort at least _has_ white hair."

Said apprentice looked up critically from his papers. "No. If you expect me to do something so foolish, you do not know me at all." then he continued reading the reports in his hand.

"Exactly my point!" Even declared, but he could already sense he was losing the battle of wills.

The others just shook their heads and continued looking expectantly at him.

"But—well—fine, I'll do it!" he folded his arms and looked away.

So, that Christmas, little eight-year-old Ienzo got a special surprise visit from a very unhappy Santa Claus.

Even was stuffing presents under the tree that Christmas Eve, thinking to himself. Perhaps the boy _would_ appreciate it. Maybe it was good that he was doing this. Lost in thought, he didn't hear the footsteps behind him. But he _did_ hear someone clear his throat, and he turned around to see Ansem with a sleepy Ienzo attached to his hand.

"Oh," he said, startled, then mustered the happiest, deepest voice he could find. "Uh—I mean… ho ho ho! If it isn't Ienzo! I've heard that you've been a, er, good boy this year!"

The little boy rubbed his eyes, and squinted at the man. "Santa…?"

"Yes, I do believe it is!" Ansem prodded him forward.

Ienzo took a few nervous steps toward "Santa Claus" and looked at the presents under the large tree that sat in the corner of the cozy living room. "You came here to see… me?" he asked hesitantly.

"Uh, yes, I do believe so!" Even said awkwardly and squatted down to the boy's eyelevel.

Ienzo ran over to him and gave him a big hug around the neck. He whispered in his ear "Thanks, Even."

Even couldn't help but smile. Of course the child knew Santa wasn't real, he was just playing along for Ansem's sake. But it still warmed the man's heart, that even though Ienzo may have thought of Ansem as his father, Even thought of the boy as _his_ son.

That was the best Christmas he had experienced.

Vexen was shaken out of that memory when his coat's sleeve accidentally knocked over a beaker onto the floor. He scowled at it, but then remembered his task for Zexion. "Oops," was all he said as he started to collect his data.

When the apprentices had all lost their hearts, something had changed in him. He became colder; the little love for he had for humanity disappeared all together. Ienzo had changed, too. He didn't need Even anymore, he didn't need Ansem, he didn't need _anybody_. Soon after they became Nobodies, he stopped visiting Vexen altogether. The only one he seemed to acknowledge from his old life was Lexaeus of all people. As much as it couldn't hurt Vexen—due to his lack of emotion—it did. He became even colder towards everyone, much like the ice he wielded.

No, Ienzo had never been his son, and neither was Zexion. Soon, all Vexen became was a simple part of Organization XIII; just a scientist, a heartless Nobody. Not a father, not a friend, nothing more than a colleague to the other members, and that was all they were to him.

Vexen gathered up the rest of his supplies, not caring that he was making an even bigger mess, and dark corridored away from his trashed lab to find Zexion.

* * *

><p>The Nobody was in the library, just like Vexen had expected. He walked to him briskly, and smacked the papers down onto the table. Zexion hardly looked up when he took the papers, pushing the book he had been reading aside. He briefly skimmed the results, then looked up at the scientist, obviously dismayed.<p>

"This is… not what I had expected."

"Precisely what I thought." Vexen agreed.

Zexion looked at them again. "I don't understand… how could _they_ get here? I mean, why would they want to come to this castle, here in a nonexistent world, just to… force Christmas upon us?"

He shrugged. "Sabotage, perhaps? Now, about that favor—"

But Vexen quickly figured out that the other Nobody wasn't listening, being too absorbed in the text on the paper. "My apologies, Vexen, we can figure things out later. I must go analyze this." And with that, he walked into a portal of darkness and disappeared.

"Whatever it is must be quite unsettling to make even _Zexion_ act that way." Xaldin observed from the other side of the room.

"Indeed," Vexen sighed. He turned the book over on the table that Zexion had been reading. The dark green cover was worn, and old fashioned pictures of Christmas bells and holly leaves were pictured on the front cover. Faint gold letters read _A Christmas Carol_. Vexen wasn't sure he had ever seen this book before. "Charles Dickens," he murmured. "A queer name indeed."

He held up the old book for Xaldin to see. "Do you know what world this comes from?"

Xaldin glanced up. "No, I do not believe so. A strange, new world, probably."

Vexen raised his eyebrows. The library in the Castle that Never Was had books from all over the universe, but this one interested him. He created a dark corridor and went back to his room.

The Nobody rested comfortably on his bed and opened up the book, forgetting about that morning's occurrences.

"Vexen!"

The scientist groaned. "No more…"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I did writing it! Tomorrow: Lexaeus!**


	5. Chapter V

**Along with Vexen's chapter, this one is a little longer and a bit, ah, _sentimental_, if you will.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Kingdom Hearts, that would be a bad thing.**

**Chapter Five :: Five Golden Rings**

Recipe for a normal and semi-profitable day in Organization XIII: 1. Wake up to another dark and dreary morning. 2. Prepare for assignments by putting on uniform. 3. Throw in some missions and kill the Heartless, just so they can reform. Again. 4. Return to the Castle. 5. Repeat steps three and four a few more times, till Nobody is completely worn out and out of Potion. 6. Listen to Xemnas drawl on about Kingdom Hearts. 7. Give Nobody some extra TLC by letting them go to sleep. 8. Repeat steps one through seven.

No, his life as a Nobody wasn't spectacular—it wasn't even _close_. Sometimes a special mission to Castle Oblivion would make his nonexistent life interesting, or an attack on the Castle that Never Was to shake up the daily routine, but otherwise, life was just plain _bo-ring _as Demyx might say.

And that was the reason why Lexaeus tried his best to enjoy Christmas. The large Nobody found life monotonous, and he rarely conversed with his Organization XIII comrades. He would get an occasional visit from Zexion every now and then, but other than that… well, there _was_ a reason his title was "The SilentHero." Now, just because he didn't voice his opinions much does not mean that he was uninterested in the events that hit the Organization head-on.

Like this new issue about not celebrating Christmas. The holiday added a little spice into his bland, emotionless life every year, and he wouldn't mind celebrating it again. Of course, the Nobody didn't object when Xemnas made his announcement four days ago in the Round Room. It wasn't his place to decide what the Organization would and wouldn't do—and Lexaeus knew that.

After slipping on his black trench coat that morning, the Nobody glanced at a photograph he must have accidentally left on his bedside dresser. It was old, faded, and looked as though it could fall apart if handled wrong. About to pick it up, Lexaeus tensed his jaw when a soft, yet urgent knock came at his door.

"Zexion," he greeted the visitor, but seeing the slightest bit of distress reflecting in VI's eyes, he motioned for him to come into the bleak room. "What is it? Rogue Heartless?"

"No," Zexion sighed as he stepped inside. "It's worse, I believe."

Lexaeus only raised an eyebrow.

"Birds—have you seen any birds around your room?"

The Nobody knit his eyebrows in confusion. "I believe not. What is this about?"

Zexion's eyes were darting around the room. "The first four members have received… peculiar—small to say the least—gifts for the past few days. Each one had a strange note attached, and the 'gifts' were all of avian breeds."

"…Birds?"

"Precisely." he confirmed, then continued on. "I have strong reason to believe that you are the next target, seeing how the pattern has already taken place. Perhaps we can find the source early and stop it before it can get any further."

"Does this have anything to do with…" Lexaeus's voice trailed off, not sure what to think of this.

"I have a feeling this has to do with Christmas. Strange, I know, but each victim—namely the Superior, Xigbar, Xaldin, and Vexen—have found their rooms—or laboratory—covered in decorations they did not put up."

"Could it be Demyx or Roxas, trying to get the others to celebrate despite the Superior's orders?" Lexaeus wondered aloud.

"Perhaps, but I do not believe that is the case." Zexion walked around the plain white room, looking around for clues. His calculating expression turned a little soft when his eyes fell on the old photograph. He turned to Lexaeus, and an emotion he could only pretend to feel flashed across his face: pity. But it passed almost as quickly as it had come, and he cleared his throat.

"Anything else?" Lexaeus asked.

"No, I do not think so. But make sure you are prepared for anything out of the ordinary. And if something _does_ come, make sure to get back to me on it, as quickly as possible."

Lexaeus nodded, and shut the door as soon as Zexion left. He stood there and pondered what had just happened; maybe something interesting would happen. Soon, his vision drifted back to his dresser. The Nobody sat down on his bed, and picked up the picture ever so gently, despite his large hands.

It was the only thing he had managed to salvage from his former life, and sometimes, it felt as though it was his only connection—the only thing tying him to Aeleus.

The picture was washed out, but the smile on the woman's face was still as radiant as the gardens had been. A large arm was wrapped around her waist—the young couple looked so happy together. So carefree and youthful. So _in love_. Love—that was something Lexaeus hadn't felt in a very long time.

The woman looked so small compared to the man she was with. Her husband was tall, muscular, and even looked a little intimidating in his castle guard uniform. Anyone who knew Lexaeus would recognize him right away. But there was one huge difference between the men, despite their alike appearances.

Aeleus had a heart. He had been able to love his dear wife. He had been able to love anybody he wanted to. Lexaeus was just a hulking shell of that man. He wasn't married—he was only a member of an Organization trying to find their hearts. He was cold inside, and felt no remorse for the things he had done—good or bad. No, she would never love a man like him.

And as much as he hated it, it was true. She had loved Aeleus with all of her heart, and he had felt the same way, too. Aeleus had felt so much pain when the Heartless had ended her life, and shortly after, his heart was taken. Thinking back on that day, Lexaeus didn't even feel a drop of grief for her death—not a bit of the guilt that his Somebody had felt, or any of the self-blame for her passing.

No, Lexaeus and Aeleus were _not_ the same man. They couldn't be.

Lexaeus put the picture back into its drawer carefully, and headed to the Gray Area to collect his missions for the day.

* * *

><p>Now, as many others had wondered before him, why in the name of Kingdom Hearts did the members of Organization XIII have to be sent to Agrabah of all places? The heat was stifling in their long, black trench coats, even during these supposed winter months.<p>

Lexaeus pulled on his collar, trying to cool himself down in any possible way—to no avail, of course. How he longed to be any place but in that desert. He didn't plan on complaining to anyone about it—that would just make things worse. Besides, he wasn't about to lower himself down to Demyx, who was trudging on behind him, wailing.

"It's too hot here! Can't we go somewhere else and pretend that you—I mean, uh, _we_ killed some Heartless?"

"Quiet, Demyx, you are calling attention to us by being so—" he turned around before he finished his sentence, and sighed. Of course, the other Nobody wasn't listening to him. He had found a spot in the shade, and was now playing his sitar happily. "So much for stealth…" he muttered.

"Hey, check out this new song I've been working on!" Demyx said, and started plucking out a tune on the giant blue instrument. "I'm trying to work out 'Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree,' but for some reason, it keeps sounding like 'Under the Sea!'" his face was a little crestfallen.

Lexaeus sighed again. At this rate, their job would never get done. He fished out a schedule from his pocket and looked over it. "Why don't we finish this mission later, and head over to Twilight Town."

"Yeah! And we should get ice cream while we're there too!"

"First, we have a Giant Heartless to take down."

"Awe man…"

Lexaeus created a corridor of darkness, and the two Nobodies walked into it, headed to the town where the sun is always setting.

"Darksides are easy to take down, don't you think, Lex?" Demyx said happily, eating his ice cream.

Lexaeus examined a nasty gash on his arm that left a huge slice in his sleeve. "They are—especially when you just sit on the sidelines and pretend to be doing something, all the while your comrade almost gets _killed_." he looked disapprovingly at the younger Nobody.

"Oh yeah, ha ha…" he shoved the blue bar into his mouth and looked away.

They continued walking in silence, looking for any other Heartless to rid of. Lexaeus liked it better that way—silence. Of course, Demyx didn't have the same ideas.

"I heard that Axel comes here every day with Roxas and Xion," Demyx started, and pointed with his popsicle stick to the towering building on the horizon. "They go to the clock tower every day after work, and eat ice cream and talk for hours. Kind of like best friends…" he let his head drop. "Hey, do you ever wish you had friends like that?"

Lexaeus thought about that for a second before answering. "No, I don't think I do."

"That's too bad… but I wish I did. I like those three, but I don't think they think of _me_ as a 'best friend.'"

Lexaeus didn't respond. This conversation was useless to him, he just wanted to RTC and get away from Demyx. Of course, he wouldn't get that till many hours later. And those hours felt like _days_ with the other Nobody along, who just wouldn't _shut_ _up_.

"Do you think we should always listen to Xemnas? Do you ever think a revolt would be good?" Demyx asked abruptly, which took Lexaeus a bit off guard.

"What do you mean by that?" Lexaeus asked slowly.

"Well," Demyx got a strange look on his face. "You know, like, disobeying orders and stuff, or maybe outright protesting his decisions. Like, don't you think it would be awesome if others—like, uh, me—could be in charge instead of him, and my word would be law?"

Lexaeus's eyes widened a little. Working under Demyx would _not_ be good… he didn't even want to imagine what that would be like, so he just settled with something that made sense. "Treason can result in destruction."

Demyx stopped, and put his hands up defensively. "H-hey! That's not what I meant!"

"Then why don't you say what you mean?"

"What I _meant_ is I think it would be awesome to have, like, a monopoly in the Organization. Like, where we vote on ideas and then we have to do them."

He blinked a few times. "You mean a democracy?"

"Huh? Oh, either or, whatever. But don't you think that would be cool?"

"This has to do with Christmas, doesn't it?" Lexaeus inquired after trying to figure out what Demyx was getting at.

He nodded. "Yeah, yeah, you're right…"

Lexaeus was sure by his tone that Demyx wasn't going to continue, but he was wrong. Not that that wasn't expected, though.

"I just think we should be able to do what we want. Those old farts can be lame and not celebrate the funnest and awesomest holiday of the year, but I think we should still be able to! Right, Lexaeus?"

He didn't respond, having tuned the musician out. It was pretty much a one sided conversation for the rest of the day.

* * *

><p>Shaking the sand out of his hair, Lexaeus approached the door to his room. He opened it, deciding that if the Organization <em>did<em> end up celebrating Christmas, all he wanted as a gift was to never go back to Agrabah—or to be teamed with Demyx again, for that matter. Either one would work. For some reason, he hadn't remembered the ninth member of Organization XIII being _so_ unhelpful before…

He scowled again at the slice in his coat, even though he had put some Potion on the bloody cut and it was now long gone; he would still have to repair his sleeve. But when Lexaeus opened the door, his frown deepened.

—Now, the authoress has taken the liberty to not describe exactly what was in the Nobody's room, due to the fact that it has been explained in the first four chapters. She is sure that you, as the readers, would prefer not to read the description _again_, so from now until the story is finished, it shall just be described with generic term "unexpected Christmas cheer." Thank you for understanding—

Lexaeus closed the door behind him, and looked around the room. _Ah, this must be what Zexion was talking about... Oh well._

Unlike the others, this strange surprise didn't particularly bother him, and he just shrugged it off. What should he care that someone had decided to decorate his room for him? Of course, with the extra stress from his missions that day—and annoyance with Demyx—it wasn't the top thing on his mind that Zexion had alluded that there could be an intruder to the castle who was doing this.

He lounged back on his plain white bed and looked at the blinking lights strung around the artificial tree, casting colorful glows on the floor. He had always preferred those kinds of lights, especially the big bulbs. His wife had always preferred the plain white ones that shown with a steady, silvery glow. Of course, he had always let her decorate how she liked.

Thinking about her made him feel nothing but sentimentality. Sometimes… sometimes it frustrated him to no end that he couldn't feel grief. The fact that he couldn't feel a single emotion made Lexaeus think that maybe it would've been better if he had no memories of his Somebody—no memories of his sweet wife, his job as a castle guard and eventual scientist, and especially the Heartless attack that had claimed so many lives. It had been all of the apprentices' fault, but Aeleus had always blamed himself personally. Maybe if he had no memories… life as a Nobody wouldn't be so painful. Or not painful, depending on how one would look at it.

He shooed those thoughts away, not wishing to dwell on the past at this time. Besides, with the cheerful atmosphere in his room, it was more or less difficult for him to concentrate on dark memories. Though he was very busy with his guard duties when he still had his heart, he had enjoyed celebrating Christmas as his Somebody. It gave the burly man a breather, and some much needed quality time with his family—though that only consisted of said man and his wife; they were never able to have children. Which, of course, caused him to love the holiday even more.

He and his spouse would always help out with the local orphanage during the holidays, and it had never ceased to amaze Aeleus with the feeling he got from the children's shining faces. It made him so warm inside—and despite his rough demeanor, the parentless children loved him.

Christmas had always been a special time for Aeleus, and his Nobody didn't want to let go of that part of his first life. But he still had to, of course; there were no homeless orphans or Nobody children alike in the World That Never Was to be taken care of. _To be loved_.

A deep sigh left his chest, even though there was no emotion behind it. Only memories—that's all he had anymore. He kept those treasures to himself, and preferred not to share them with anyone who didn't already know his past. To Lexaeus, it was better to keep in those fake emotions he would try to express rather than make a fool of himself doing so.

From the corner of his eye, the Nobody saw something glinting in the white light of his room. He reached out a gloved hand and picked up a small bundle of circles, all threaded together by a string that was attached to a piece of paper. They looked like they were made out of gold, and, out of impulse, Lexaeus compared them to his fingers. The rings looked like they would fit perfectly if he took off his gloves, but he didn't really care.

Looking over the note, he didn't feel much surprise, finally recalling Zexion's words earlier that morning to his mind. He read the card, not sure what to think. _On the fifth day of Christmas, - gave to you five golden rings_. So they _were_ gold? Hmm…

Lexaeus got up and opened his door. First he would find Zexion, then he would head over to the Organization's moogle. Maybe he could get some extra munny from the gold rings…

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><p><strong>AN: Things will start to tie together in the next chapter. Oh, and thanks so much for the reviews! You don't know how happy they make me.**


	6. Chapter VI

**Okay, I hope this chapter explains some things for you. Of course, I'm not revealing _everything_ just yet ;)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.**

**Chapter Six :: Six Geese a-Laying**

He thumbed the pages, not satisfied. _Where was it? _He flipped through the book faster, then threw it back down on the table. Zexion took a deep breath, trying to get a hold of his annoyance. He thought he had figured _everything_ out, but then Lexaeus just _had_ to bring him those rings to him. Golden rings weren't birds! Now there was a skip in the pattern that messed things up.

And on top of that, he knew it was his day to be the recipient. Yesterday was the fifth day in a row that this had happened, and the Nobody knew that he was next. He tried to calm his mind with thoughts of _It won't be anything terrible. How bad can a few birds be? _He didn't have any idea.

Picking up the book he was finished with, the Nobody walked to the computer in the library. He didn't want to use it before, relying on his own skills of problem solving and his extensive knowledge of what the huge library held. But now… now he was stumped. To rely on a computer did not necessarily aid his pride; actually, it hurt it a little. But swallowing it back, he typed a few keywords into the database, and a page was instantly brought up. _Classic Christmas Traditions from the Many Worlds_ was the name of the book, and Zexion went to look for it.

He hoped that it would have chapters in it relating to this mysterious world he discovered just the other day called Earth. He was almost sure that was where the source of the gifts was coming from. He had been reading and watching so many "Earth" books and films over the past two days, he was a little overwhelmed. But this culture also intrigued him a little; he had even shirked some of his duties so he could drink in the vast amounts of new information.

Zexion finally found the book he was looking for, tucked away near the end of the massive white shelves. He slid it out of the shelf and stared at it for a second. It was extremely thick and heavy, but it wasn't much different than his Lexicon. He carried it to a table and set it down careful, then pulled up a chair for himself. He flipped it open to the table of contents and traced his finger down the names of numerous worlds.

_Beast's Castle_, _Traverse Town_, _Dwarf Woodlands_, _Enchanted Domain_, _Twilight Town_, and many others he didn't recognize came up in the list. Zexion stopped his finger at the one listed _Radiant Garden_. He stared hard at the words, remembering what the holidays were like back then. Images of brightly lit pine trees, crackling fires, presents, and loved ones flashed through his mind. It had been so long since he had the heart of a child…

Shaking his head, he cleared the old memories away and continued down the names. His finger finally landed on _Earth_, and he flipped the pages to somewhere near the middle. The words _Christmas Traditions on Earth_ were written in fancy calligraphy, and a picture of an angel was pictured under it. Her hands were outspread before her and a banner was hanging off of her fragile-looking fingers. Words written in Latin were on the ribbon, and her faced looked so tranquil, like all was well. Zexion wasn't sure what to think—he had never seen anything like this.

He eventually tore his eyes away from the lovely picture and started reading.

_Like many other worlds, Earth has traditions that are common to see around the universe. Such as the Christmas tree, presents on the morn of the holiday, and Santa Claus, among other things. Unlike other worlds though, Christmas has a spiritual background and is considered to be a holy day by many…_

Zexion continued reading until he hit a new topic.

_Some Earth specific traditions include the Twelve Days of Christmas, which has origins in…_

He read even more intently from then on, and finally came to a conclusion. He had figured out what all this stuff was about.

* * *

><p>A meeting was called in the Round Room later that day, due to the fact that Zexion had almost pleaded with Xemnas to gather them all there. The Superior had finally agreed, and now all the Nobodies were staring expectantly at the illusionist.<p>

Zexion cleared his throat, and started talking. "I believe I have found the bases of these gifts. After much research, I have discovered a world we have never been to before."

"Wh-what?" Demyx spluttered. "What does that have to do with Christmas?"

Xemnas held up his hand, and motioned for Zexion to go on.

"Well," he started again. "This world is called 'Earth.' The inhabitants are all human or animal. From what I have read, there are no Keyblade wielders there, and the Heartless have not even _found_ the place yet. They have this strange thing called 'Newton's Law of Gravity,' which plays a big part in their world. They cannot jump and stay up off of the ground as long as we can. It also affects their hair, it appears. They cannot style it high without it falling out.

"I also discovered that they do not have magic, and that term is often used to describe childish beliefs or fairy tales. Some cultures believe in this force, but in most prominently civilized parts, it is taken as a joke. And to people on their world, we would just be considered 'fake' or 'fantasy.' The people there have little faith in things that do not make sense to them, and honestly, they seem to be quite shallow."

"Sounds like a pretty boring place," Axel put in once Zexion paused. "Do they even have sea salt ice cream? I don't think a bleak place like that would even _have_ ice cream."

"They do, but not… sea salt. Their flavors are generally more, ah, normal." Zexion shrugged.

"This is all quite fascinating," Xaldin cut in. "But what _exactly_ does this have to do with the problems at hand?"

"Oh, yes." Zexion got back on topic. "I have great reason to believe that these gifts—and whoever is meddling with us—are from Earth."

"If they seem like such an inferior civilization," Vexen started. "How in Kingdom Hearts would they be able to get _here_?"

"Well, I have yet to figure that out," Zexion sighed. "But what I did find is they celebrate Christmas, like many worlds do. And like the holidays in Radiant Garden," he looked at the other founding members. "Or whatever world you came from, they have some traditions that no one else has.

"These gifts align themselves with a song they have, which has to do with gifts given during this period of time they call the Twelve Days of Christmas. Though, on their world, the Twelve Days of Christmas starts on Christmas day. They seem to have started it early, so that the twelfth day will land on Christmas. The song is collaborative, so each verse is stacked on top of each other." He pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket.

"It starts with 'On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me a partridge in a pear tree. On the second—'"

"Can't you sing it for us?" Demyx called. "Your reading is just _boring_."

Zexion eyed him. "No." he shook his head and continued. "The second verse says 'On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree.' The third verse says—"

"Aww, ain't that sweet." another person interrupted. "Who's your 'true love' little Mister Zexion?" Xigbar smirked.

The tactician only rolled his eyes and continued. "'On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me three French hens, two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree.' And so, the fourth verse is 'On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me four colly birds—"

"Wait!" Vexen shrieked, interrupting once again. "The note I received said 'four _calling_ birds,' not four _colly_ birds,' whatever that means."

Zexion took a deep breath, trying to ignore the fact everyone wanted to interrupt him that day. "Whoever or _whatever_ wrote those notes must have misunderstood the song. Because 'colly' and 'calling' sound the same, they are often confused. 'Colly' means black, so they would just be black birds."

"So, let me get this straight," Vexen tilted his head forward a little. "If those inferior gift givers would have simply, ah, _understood_ what they were trying to give, those wretched birds would not be constantly calling my name?" his left eye twitched.

"Yes, I believe so."

Vexen looked like he was about to rip his hair out. "I have gotten no sleep for the past two days! Every night it is 'Vexen! Vexen!" some of the Nobodies snickered at his imitation of the birds. "Then in the morning, 'Vexen! Vexen!' When I come back from a mission, more calls of 'Vexen! Vexen!' And—"

"Yes, yes, we will figure out a way to rid of them," Zexion waved it aside. "Now, the fifth verse says 'On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me five golden rings, four colly birds, three French hens, two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree.' The sixth verse says," he flinched slightly, knowing he was next. "'On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to—"

Someone in the room cleared his throat. "What now?" Zexion asked sharply, then spotted Xemnas. "Oh, my Superior, what is it?"

"If this is what the whole 'song' is," he said irritably. "Just start at the last verse so we do not have to hear all this talk of 'my true love.' It is quite nauseating."

Zexion blinked. "Yes, Superior. Uh, the last verse says 'On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me twelve lords a-leaping, eleven pipers piping, ten ladies dancing, nine drummers drumming, eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming, six geese a-laying, five golden rings, four colly birds, three French hens, two turtledoves, and a partridge in a pear tree. For the past five days, the first five gifts have been received. Each number of gifts, or the number of the day, matched up with the ranking of the first five members. So, each of you need to expect the specific gift on a specific day that matches up to you. Therefore, Saïx, expect to see seven swans tomorrow somewhere in your path—most likely your room—Axel, expect eight milkmaids in two days, Demyx, nine drummers in three days, and so on and so forth."

A silence settled over the room once he finished. After a few moments, a confused look came over Roxas's face. "What's a piper, and why would you give someone eleven of them?"

"I'll explain it you later." Axel said, but had a question of his own. "Why… why would you give someone people as a gift? How does that make any sense?"

Zexion shrugged. "I don't know. The many cultures on Earth are strange. Maybe they give them as slaves?"

Larxene smiled. "Slaves, huh? Sounds fun!"

"Wait, so I'm getting a bunch of drummers?" Demyx leaned forward in his chair. "Awesome! We can start a band and everything! I think we'll call it… hmm…" he looked thoughtful, then snapped his fingers. "Demyx and the Drummers! Yeah, that sounds good…"

Luxord sat back with an unhappy look on his face, and started shuffling a deck he had hidden in his sleeve. "It's not proper for ladies to play cards…"

A sadistic grin twisted Larxene's lips, but otherwise, she didn't say a word.

"What? That isn't fair!" Xigbar crossed his arms. "They get slaves and I get two birds that won't die? That's so totally _lame_."

Of everybody, Saïx looked the most displeased. He was not about to welcome a bunch of animals into his life with a smile. _No way_.

From their thrones, Roxas and Xion were whispering quietly, looking disappointed.

Basically, the Round Room was filled with lots of talk, and the echoing walls didn't help to keep the noise down.

"Quiet!" Xemnas barked, then turned to Zexion once everyone stopped their chatter. "VI, you have told us what the source behind this child's play is, but how do you propose to _stop_ it?"

Zexion swallowed, all ready figuring that his plan was going to fail. There was no way Xemnas was going to agree. "Ah, for all the past years that we _have_ celebrated Christmas, nothing like this has happened. This may be happening because you have stopped the traditions." he took another deep breath. Xemnas's face was still steady, emotionless. "So… I propose that we _do_ start celebrating, then maybe, just _maybe_, this will stop."

Xemnas sat back in his throne, waiting for anything else he might say.

"Uh, that is my proposition on how to fix things. You do not have to celebrate with us—that is, if you agree to the plan. We will not disturb you in your chamber. Is that right?" he looked around expectantly, and the rest of the Organization nodded their heads.

The Superior just looked at Zexion for what seemed like a long time, as if he were looking into his soul for his reasoning behind this absurd theory to go against his word. Zexion did not particularly appreciate the look, and by the time Xemnas spoke, small beads of sweat had appeared on his hairline.

Xemnas looked around the room of Nobodies, and spoke clearly. "You all will follow VI's plans. If he says you are doing something wrong, _fix_ it. If he tells you to stop something, _stop_ it. He is in charge of this operation to stop these unknown terrorists. You all are dismissed." and with a swirl of black, Xemnas was gone.

Zexion looked straight ahead for a long time. He had actually agreed to it. The heavy silence of shock was only interrupted by the sound of Xion hitting her throne by swinging her feet back and forth.

The tactician cleared his throat. "Well… you all get ready. If… if you want to learn more about Christmas on Earth, I have some movies in the film room." he said the words, but it seemed like his thoughts were far away. Shortly after, Zexion created a dark corridor and left the room to go make his own preparations.

* * *

><p>Other than the library, Zexion often went to the kitchen when he wanted to think. He was still confused as to why Xemnas agreed so willingly after being so firm on not letting anyone in Organization XIII celebrate Christmas. Did he agree just because Zexion was the Organization's tactician? Did he really trust him <em>that<em> much when he couldn't even feel trust?

He was shaken out of his thoughts when a sharp _ding_ came from the toaster. Zexion took some butter out of the fridge and spread it on the toast, but heard something strange as he did it. Putting the yellow stick back in the fridge, he looked behind him. No one was in the doorway. Zexion put his toast on a plate and looked around cautiously. No one was in the hallway. He sighed at his paranoia and turned to sit at the table.

The plate flew out of his hand out of surprise. A flock of geese were now in the kitchen—where they had come from, he had no idea. He backed up slowly and counted them. Six; six geese a-laying. He took a breath and slowly bent down to pick up his food.

As Ienzo, geese had never been his thing. They were pure evil, and the boy had definitely been bitten more than once. Thankfully, when he had lost his heart, that fear of the birds had been taken away also, but that didn't mean he had lost the bad memories, too. When he had discovered that his gift would be geese, he was not at all enthusiastic about it.

_Maybe I could cook them_… he thought. _The only good thing about them is their meat… yeah, I'll do that. If I can get away first._

"Y-you like bread?" he called to them hesitantly. "Here you go, you can have all my bread. Just stay away!" he threw the toast then ran into a dark corridor. After he was securely situated in his room, he could finally think clearly. Well, almost. Like all the other rooms, the "unexpected Christmas cheer" had arrived.

Zexion wasn't going to take it down, though. He had always loved Christmas as a child. That part of Ienzo still lived on inside of him, even though he didn't exactly _show_ it. Life as an orphan wasn't always happy, and some of his fondest memories when he actually had his parents were during the holidays. Though those memories were dim—considering he had lost his mother and father at five years old—he cherished them. Christmas had always held a special place in his heart. Well, when he had a heart, that is.

Now that he was a Nobody, the memories didn't affect him emotionally. They used to make him sad, or happy, sometimes upset and sulky—he was a very emotional child. But without his heart, the images in his head of his mother's smile, or his father's eyes—they only made him long for his old life, for his heart.

The honking noises of geese could be heard from down the hall, and Zexion got up quickly. Dang animals… why, oh why, did _he_ have to get stuck with them?

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Tomorrow: Saix! Reviews are always welcome :D**


	7. Chapter VII

**Yay for Saïx! I love him :3**

**Disclaimer: Oi, I don't own Kingdom Hearts...**

**Chapter Seven :: Seven Swans a-Swimming**

Saïx was cold, calculating, and no-nonsense. He wasn't _supposed_ to like Christmas—but there was a tiny part of him that wanted badly to join in the festivities. He decided that it had to be that small part of Isa that still lived in him, yearning for the life he used to have—thirsting for that carefree, laid back attitude, to be that boy living in Radiant Garden, the one that the power of Darkness hadn't tainted yet. The one who's best friend was Lea.

He was none of those things; not anymore. Now he was just an empty shell, worth nothing to nobody. He _was_ nothing. Even his footsteps down the living corridor sounded hollow as he approached Xemnas's door.

He knocked, and waited for a response. After a few moments, a voice drawled out, "What is it, Saïx?"

"My Superior, I… I am leaving to get the tree. Would you like to, ah, come?" he spoke a little hesitantly.

It seemed like a cloud of gloom was radiating from inside of the room. Again, he didn't speak for a while, and Saïx stood there patiently. After a deep sigh, Xemnas spoke up. "No, go on. Choose whichever one you please."

"Yes, Superior," Saïx nodded his head, though no one would see that gesture, and created a dark corridor.

Usually, Xemnas came with him to cut down the tree; it wasn't exactly a one man—or one Nobody—job. Even with their added power, dragging along a gigantic Christmas tree wasn't the easiest thing in the world.

When Saïx stepped out into the Gray Area, he wasn't exactly surprised to see that no one was in there. All missions—except those absolutely necessary, like checkups at Castle Oblivion—were called off until after Christmas. The holiday was only five days away, so Organization XIII would be up and running in almost a week. That wasn't _too_ bad. But the problem at hand—finding a specific Nobody to help him—was starting to wear away at Saïx's nonexistence patience.

Next, he headed to the kitchen; someone was bound to be in there. But when he dark corridored there, he was met by an unpleasant surprise. Before he even stepped out of the portal, Saïx was hit by the smell of butter; _too_ much butter. The first step out he took made a sickening _crunch_, and he almost tripped before he could get both of his feet on the ground. Well, if there _was_ any ground, that is.

Saïx was now in the midst of a sea of popcorn that spread across the entire kitchen. Four extra-large kettles were noisily popping out the fluffy kernels, which were spilling out onto the already countertop-high pile. He instantly scanned the room, and tried to keep his balance. His eyes soon fell on the back of two heads, which looked like they were floating in the popcorn.

"Why," Saïx seethed out. "Oh why, am I not _surprised_?"

At the sound of his voice, the heads straightened, so that onlookers could just see the tops of their shoulders. A hood was automatically flipped over the dark-haired girl, and the two young Nobodies turned around _very_ slowly.

"H-hey, Saïx!" Roxas started. "We were just, um… making popcorn. Like, for popcorn balls. Cause you know, we asked Zexion if me and Xion could make some and he said yes and Axel was helping us but he had to go to the store because we were all out of marshmallows and—"

"Spare me from the details," Saïx cut off his spew of words.

"Are… are you mad at us?" Roxas shrunk back a little.

He snorted. "Foolish _child_, I don't have a heart to feel anger with." Saïx corrected him. "Perhaps you should learn the basics, instead of filling your head with meaningless friendships."

"I-It's not meaningless…" Xion whimpered from under her hood.

"Hmph. I would only expect something so _idiotic_ to come out of a puppet's mouth, and I—"

"Guys!" Axel exclaimed from behind Saïx, and looked around. No one must have heard him come back over the loud popping. "What are you doing?" he tried to walk towards them, but fell on his face.

"I would suggest supervising these two a little more closely in the future," Saïx told the newcomer coldly. "It seems that you have taken it upon yourself to make sure they don't get into mischief, and shirking your duties could be detrimental to the entire Organization."

Axel just looked up at his once-best friend with this look that said "What is _wrong_ with you?" but he didn't actually speak.

Oh well, was it Saïx's place to care? Not really. And so he steadily walked over the popcorn, and got out the door. When he finally got out into the bright white hallway, Zexion looked like he was walking toward the kitchen.

"Zexion," Saïx nodded curtly once the other Nobody got within two feet of him. "I suppose you know where Lexaeus is."

The other put his hand on his chin and looked thoughtful. "I do not believe so. Perhaps he's in the film room. It seems that quite a few of the others are there. By the way, how do you think the best way to cook geese is?"

Saïx raised an eyebrow, but otherwise didn't answer the question. Zexion didn't take it as an offense; everyone in the Organization should have known how Saïx could be—no time for useless questions or idle chatter—and he wasn't about to get annoyed over it.

The film room was right down the hall, so Saïx didn't feel the necessity to create a corridor of darkness to get there. And sure enough, that was where he found the Nobody he was looking for.

The room he walked into was dark, with a screen in the front. Fourteen chairs were set up in neat rows, and a few members were scattered among them, watching whatever was playing on the screen. A black and white movie was flickering, but the humans seen on it were dressed in clothes that Saïx didn't recognize. He figured that it must have been an "Earth" film, and that was why the people dressed and talked so weird. They had strange accents that he didn't recognize either, and Demyx—who was sitting as close to the screen as possible—found them quite amusing.

"Yeah, there are a lot of 'ism's' out there," a young man with a broom was saying. "But the woist is commoicialism." Demyx laughed mockingly at the actor.

"Did you hear that, Lexaeus?" Demyx cackled. "He sounds so stupid! Woit if I was ta talk like that?" he tried to mimic the accent, but failed.

Lexaeus sighed. "Why must I always get stuck in the same room with you…?"

Looking back, Demyx noticed the visitor. "Oh, hey Saïx! You should watch this movie with us! They're in this place called 'New York.' What kind of name for a world is that?"

Saïx held his tongue, though tempted to call Demyx an idiot. So instead, he just turned to the Silent Hero. "Lexaeus, come with me to get the tree." and he turned to leave.

Lexaeus grunted and followed him, and once they were out of the darkened room, he spoke up. "Xemnas isn't going with you this year?"

"I'm afraid not. Our Superior seems to be… preoccupied."

"You mean sulking in his room."

"That is not what said." Saïx responded quickly, then created a dark corridor. "Shall we?"

* * *

><p>Christmas Town was cold; that was the first thing that really hit Saïx. He hadn't been to the cheery world since last Christmas, but he hadn't remembered it being so frozen. Of course, they had come out of the portal even further than the edge of town, where no one would see them. The lights of the nestled city scintillated happily, and looked like they didn't even feel the cold.<p>

Saïx pulled his hood over his face, and zipped it all the way up, and Lexaeus did the same. He started walking into the snowy forest, looking for the tallest, goodliest pine tree. Neither of the Organization members tried to make conversation—both preferring silence, the quietness of the scenic woods suited them well. Only the light crunch of snow under their boots or an owl's hoot stirred the quietude.

The sky could barely be seen above the trees, but the little patches that showed through were laced with twinkling stars. The moon was bright enough to light small pieces of the ground with a silver glow, lighting their way. All in all, it was a breath taking view; the two would have been blown away—that is, if they were the "stopping by woods on a snowy evening—just for the scenery" kind of Nobodies, but they weren't. They had seen plenty of crazy, dangerous, or beautiful worlds, and this was just any other one. It wasn't a big deal.

Besides, they had a mission; almost every tree they past, the men would look at the trunk to see how thick it was, or examine how full the needles were branched together. You see, the pine trees in Christmas Town weren't exactly what you think of when the word "pine" comes up. Those pine trees looked like massive, well, Christmas trees. There were no pine cones on them, and the branches were shaped upward in perfect cones, all ready to be put into a warm, cheer-filled house. Or lonely castle whose only residents were missing the hearts to feel that cheer with. You know, either or.

The trees on the outskirts of the forest were smaller, and more house-sized. Further in, they were large—good for Santa's personal house or workshop. Maybe even the White House. But in the _very_ middle of the forest—now, those were the ones sized for a castle. They were _massive_. It took a while, but the two eventually ran across the perfect one.

The branches were low to the ground (if you consider five feet high "low to the ground." But hey, these were giant), and tapered upward beautifully just like they were supposed to. The only problem was getting it chopped down. The fact that the trees were pact so close together would make for trouble getting it down, and only Lexaeus's weapon was anywhere near decent for chopping the huge trunk. The large man had to duck at least a foot to get under the very bottom branches, and hacking away while hunched over wasn't the easiest thing to do.

Because his claymore wasn't exactly suitable for hacking into wood, Saïx stood on the side. It was usually much easier with Xemnas's Ethereal Blades, and his absence made for a long, tiring process—well, for Lexaeus, that is. It gave Saïx time to think, especially about the old days when he still had his heart.

It was hard for him to believe that he used to be such an innocent, naïve boy… He wished to have that personality back, but… it was too hard for Saïx to act that way without his heart. He just couldn't do it; he couldn't bring himself to be something he wasn't. He was heartless and without emotions—that was all he could be in his Nobody state. Acting like he had a heart was useless to Saïx, and without any feelings, he figured it would be better to be malicious and do things he wouldn't regret while he was still able to not feel remorse. Isa never could have done some of the things his Nobody had committed. He was too _weak_.

Saïx stopped his train of thought when the sound of chopping stopped, and the groan of the giant tree sounded as it fell. It didn't go far, crashing heavily in the think cover of the other trees. Saïx summoned a harness he had kept in the dark corridor, and fastened it tightly around the trunk. Giving one reign to his comrade and taking the other one for himself, Saïx concentrated all of his will to make the biggest corridor of darkness that he could.

The whooshing sound came louder than normal, and the huge portal of swirling blackness erupted in the middle of the quiet forest, causing any nearby birds to flee from their nests. Their breath steamed in the chilly air as they pulled the tree. It was tedious work that strained their muscles, making it feel like they were on fire, but with their extra Nobody strength, the job could be completed.

After what seemed like hours—which it probably _did_ take hours, and that's why it seemed like so long—the load was finally dragged into the castle, right out of another gigantic dark corridor. Every year, the Christmas tree was put in a specific place in the Castle That Never Was; the only room tall enough and big enough for it, that is. Right in the middle of the castle, where numerous floors circled around a giant hole—the tree would sit right in the middle, on the bottom floor. The crown of the pine would never reach the very top levels, but it still went pretty high up there.

The castle's expert high-technology interface allowed for the walls and floors to be moved around so that the tree didn't knock out more than a few levels when put up—that would be bad. Thankfully, the hall was already moved around when they got there, and the rest of Organization XIII was waiting to help put on the decorations.

Usually, it took almost the entire Organization to get the massive tree to stand up securely, and this year was no exception. Ropes were thrown over all parts of the pine, and with much heaving, the beautiful tree stood erect in the middle of the hall, and all the levels of floors whirled back to their normal spots.

After this was finished, Saïx didn't stick around to help decorate. His job was done, and he wanted to clear his mind.

The bluenette always went outside when he wanted to think, to a certain courtyard outside the castle where Kingdom Hearts could be viewed perfectly. It was a serene little area, which was set aside from Marluxia's garden, but the pink-haired Nobody still took care of it. Neatly trimmed bushes and a few small trees were set up, though the white ground of the castle ruined the look, just a little bit. A small pond sat in the middle of the grove, and it reflected the giant heart-shaped moon perfectly. It was as if the onlooker was looking at the sky through the floor.

Saïx loved—well, actually, he couldn't _love_ this place, having no heart, but more like he… enjoyed being there. It always did the trick when he needed to get things off his back.

But when he arrived, an unpleasant surprise was waiting for him. Seven birds of pure white, all with bent necks, were swimming in the shallow pool, completely disrupting the water. _Swans_—Saïx knew he should have seen this coming, which irritated him that he hadn't.

He tried to shoo the pretty birds away, but they just kept swimming. They just wouldn't _leave_. Saïx growled as he summoned his claymore, and looked up at Kingdom Hearts. Dead or alive, these stupid birds were going to get—out—of—his—pond—_now_.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I should really start writing Luxord's chapter... I've only finished Axel's and Demyx's. Gah! TO-MUCH-WRITING!**


	8. Chapter VIII

**Shanar, your review made me smile :) Wolfy-and any other Axel fan, that is-this chapter's for you! Anywho, enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: All rights to Square Enix and Disney.**

**Chapter Eight :: Eight Maids a-Milking**

"Help me!" Axel's voice rang through the Gray Area before he even came out of the dark corridor he was in. The Nobody bolted out of the portal and closed it as fast as he could. Axel was rarely shaken up, and it surprised Roxas and Xion a little, along with whoever else was in the room. The other Organization members were decorating the large window that Kingdom Hearts shined through.

"Axel!" Roxas got up quickly from the couch, Xion in tow. "What's wrong?"

Axel looked petrified. "_They_… _won't_ _stop_… FOLLOWING ME! Roxas, get them with your kayblade or something! They're crazy!"

Roxas and Xion stared at their older friend (emphasis on _older_) in pure horror. What could make Axel act like this? Then they heard it.

"Milk! Drink milk! More milk! Aaaaxeeeel-Chaaan, come back!" female voices called out of nowhere.

The other members looked around. "Wh-what was that?" Demyx looked around nervously. "Axel, what evil spirits have you brought upon us?"

"Okay, I'll tell you quickly before they come back."

Everyone—Roxas, Xion, Demyx, Xigbar, and Luxord—gathered around Axel as he started talking.

His day had started out good enough, but things had gone downhill quickly. _It started when he woke up_…

Axel yawned as he sat up in his bed, and stretched. He barely cracked his eyelid open when he thought he saw a bunch of women in his room. He smiled, but then noticed something black and white in between them. A… cow? He decided he couldn't be seeing clearly, having just woken up, and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes—yeah, there was definitely a cow.

Axel shot up in his bed, trying to figure out how these people had gotten into his room. He tried it smoothly, first. "Hey, ladies! W-what's up?"

The young women just giggled, and the cow gave a low _moo_.

The Nobody was quite relieved when he realized he had slept in his Organization coat, being too tired to change the night before. Thank Kingdom Hearts he wasn't in his Sleepy-Time Moogle pajamas. "Uh…" he rubbed the back of his head. "You guys from around here?"

They only giggled some more, and the one in front stepped forward. She was really pretty, Axel had to admit, with her blonde hair and porcelain-like skin—ivory, with red cheeks and lips that looked like they were skillfully painted on. Her eyes matched the deep blue paisley dress she wore, that swished gracefully when she moved. She held out a dainty hand, with a note card in it.

Axel didn't take his eyes off of her face as he took it. He was an expert assassin, with keen senses, and knew when something strange was going on—especially when a bunch of people he had never seen before appeared in his room. He didn't trust these women one bit, but their faces… they were so distracting.

He shook his head, trying to concentrate on the paper. _On the eighth day of Christmas, - gave to you eight maids a-milking._ Axel mentally smacked himself for forgetting about this. He remembered how someone had said something about the possibility of these gifts being dangerous, but he couldn't imagine these fine ladies as weapons. Of course, beauty could be a disguise, but that wasn't the first thought that passed through his mind.

"Say," Axel started. "You wouldn't mind telling me who sent you, would you?"

They tilted their heads to the side in a questioning manner, and it kind of freaked Axel out. They all did it at the same time.

He swallowed the lump in his throat, and began again. "Like, who dropped you off here? A chauffeur or something?"

They tilted their heads the other way, creepy smiles now plastered on their faces.

"Moving on…" Axel coughed, then got a terrible idea. "Oh no, you guys aren't… _fangirls_, are you?"

The ladies immediately laughed, very lightly—it was almost magical, the sound that came from them. It made Axel want to stand there and listen to them forever, like it was an enchantment. His head cleared once they stopped. _Get a hold of yourself, Axel!_ he scolded himself mentally. _This is not the way to be acting! They are the _enemy_! Though they _are_ a lot more attractive than the Heartless… No! Stop thinking like that!_

One of the girls near the back—with dark hair and a crimson dress—spoke up. "No, we aren't the fangirls. We are gifts, to Axel-Chan."

_Axel-Chan? What in the name of Darkness is that supposed to mean? _Axel thought, but was quickly torn away from his thoughts when she started talking again. The woman's voice was like quiet notes on a flute, soft and sweet, and there was no doubt the others spoke the same way.

"We are milkmaids, at your service, with Brietta."

"Brietta? Which one of you is Brietta?"

They all laughed again. This time a maid in a dark green frontier styled dress—that matched all of the others, of course—spoke. "Brietta is our cow, silly Axel-Chan!"

The blonde in the front spoke up. "I am Boronia, and these are my sisters: Branwen, Berkita, Bethshaya, Briallen, Bobina, Barretta, Belladona, and our cow, Brietta. It is such a shame that our other sisters Brilynn, Bronnen, Brunella, and Burilda could not come, but _they_ would not let them come with us. _They_ said _they_ only needed eight of us…"

"Wait, who's '_they'_?" Axel put up his hands.

"_They_?" Boronia laughed a little hesitantly. "I never said anything about a '_they_.' Heh, nothing at all!"

"Right…" Axel shook his head at them. "So… what are you here for?"

The one named Belladona—or was it Briallen?—spread her hands like it was apparent. "We are gifts, to Axel-Chan!"

"Will you stop calling me that?"

"Yes, Axel-Chan, if that is what you would like!" they all giggled again.

Axel forced himself to tear his eyes away from the women. He needed get away from them before their "magic" would delude his mind completely of all sense.

"I'm going to go get breakfast… you all need to be out of this room when I come back, okay?"

They all nodded in unison.

He blinked a few times, then ran out of his room to the kitchen. When the fiery Nobody arrived, he was met by his two young friends. Roxas had his arms crossed and Xion looked very dismayed.

"Hey guys, what's with the faces?"

The two looked at each other, confused. "What do you mean, 'faces'?" Roxas asked. Xion nodded in agreement with the question.

Axel shook his head. "Forget that. Uh… why do you look so… annoyed, I guess?"

"Axel!" Xion threw her arms up in exasperation. "You said you were going to help us clean up the popcorn! We've been working since yesterday, and it's _still_ not clean!"

"Yeah!" Roxas agreed.

"C'mon,_ I _wasn't the one who made the mess." Axel protested.

"But you were supposed to be 'supervising' us, whatever that means." Roxas pointed out.

He sighed. "Don't let Saïx put ideas into your head like that. I'm your friend, not your babysitter."

"I guess so…" Xion sighed. "But aren't friends supposed to help each other?"

"Eh, how about this," Axel tried to change the subject. "You guys take a break for now, then I'll treat you to ice cream later. Sounds good?"

"We already do that every day!" Roxas said, but he didn't look disappointed. He and Xion walked out of the kitchen, off to Kingdom Hearts knows where.

Axel sighed, glad he got out of cleaning the kitchen with them. The Nobody didn't particularly feel like cleaning the kitchen that day, having too much on his mind. He shuffled through the popcorn that still remained, figuring that the two key wielders hadn't done much actual "cleaning."

He headed to a cupboard, and pulled out a bowl and some cereal. After pouring it in, he turned around to be met by eight women and a cow. He dropped the bowl out of surprise, and the lead one—Boronia—caught it without spilling a single piece.

"Do you need milk, Axel-Chan?" she asked cheerfully.

"Uh… h-how—what—ud dud…" Axel tried to speak, but he was too confused and surprised as to how they could have appeared there, so out of the blue.

Boronia held out the bowl to her sister in pink—Bethshaya, Axel thought she was—who was holding a pitcher of frothy white liquid. She poured the perfect amount into it, added a spoon, and Boronia handed the bowl back to Axel. "There you go, Axel-Chan! Fresh milk, straight from Brietta!"

Axel almost dropped his bowl again. "You milked your _sister_?"

"No! Why ever would you even say a thing like that?" Boronia looked horrified, yet her face still looked perfect. She even looked a little cute when she made that face… _No Axel! Stop it!_

He cleared his throat. "Uh, well, your cow, I mean… uh… I'm just going to go eat my breakfast now…"

He turned on his heal and headed to the small table near the back of the kitchen, not daring to look behind him.

"Hello there, Axel." someone called from the door.

He spit the bite out of his mouth, partly because the milk was warm and clumpy, partly because he was already a little jumpy that day from the events that had happened. He wiped off his tongue as he turned around, expecting to see the ladies.

Instead, all he got was Marluxia (not that that was any better, though). He stared wide-eyed at the visitor. "Wh-where did they go? They were just there, and… and…"

Marluxia shook his head. "I am afraid I do not know what you are referring to. No one else is in this room… and, if I may ask, why is there popcorn all over the floor?"

"Don't ask…" Axel shook his head, still mystified over the disappearance of his "gifts." The Nobody got up from the table, leaving his lumpy cereal for someone else to find. Maybe a little training would make him feel better.

* * *

><p>Axel breathed in a deep, long breathe as the Dusks surrounded him in the training room. He exhaled, and willed his chakrams to swirl into existence—or nonexistence, depending on how you look at it—and jumped back into a battle position. He threw one death-wheel full-speed at one of the lesser Nobodies, and it instantly disappeared. The second one was launched, but the Dusk wasn't destroyed on impact.<p>

He caught the weapons steadily, one at a time, and prepared for another attack. As he neared the very edge of the platform, the circles spun with fire and were sent out with amazing speed. The chakrams would have landed instant destruction of their targets, but before they could hit, every Nobody in the room but Axel disappeared.

He didn't see anything, but suddenly, the posse of milkmaids and their cow appeared in front of him, with cries of "Axel-Chan! Drink more milk! It is good for your bones!"

It startled him so much, he took a step back. Wrong move, Axel-Chan. That one step sent him right over the edge of the training platform, while the ladies just stared down at him.

This was actually a new thing for Axel—he had never been to the bottom of where the battle simulation stations were, and he prepared to land on his feet like he always did. Well, the floor didn't come, and he just kept falling… and falling… and falling… The Nobody would have corridored away by simply making a portal underneath himself, but he was curious as to where this chute went.

The wind rushing through his coat and hair eventually became chilly, and Axel found himself freefalling through midair. He never knew that those dark holes in the training rooms led outside the castle—so much for all that trash he had thrown down them. Creating a dark corridor back to his room, he sighed, not sure what to do with these crazy gifts of his.

Of course, Axel should have expected it, when he got to his room, they were waiting for him. He left right away and went to the library—a place he would never go otherwise (he thought books were "icky")—but they were there too! He figured they must have chased off Zexion with their chants of "Drink more milk!"

Next he went to Marluxia's garden, the Round Room, the Dark City, the Rec. Room, and even Hallow Bastion, but they were either already there, or they were close behind. It started to drive Axel mad—mad as in crazy, considering he couldn't feel anger.

Now he decided that he needed help. He was pretty sure people would be decorating the Gray Area right then, so that was his next destination. Walking through the corridor of darkness, Axel was sure that they wouldn't be in there with him—they hadn't any of the other times. But then he heard it; soft whispers of "Milk! Milk!" could be heard, like they were in the distance.

He was done with this. He needed help from the others if he wanted to rid of these fiends. "Help me!" Axel's voice rang through the Gray Area before he even came out of the dark corridor he was in. The Nobody bolted out of the portal and closed it as fast as he could. And that was what led up to where he was now.

"And that's what happened!" he said.

"Why… why didn't you just get rid of them yourself?" Roxas asked.

"Oh, huh…" Axel thought about it. "I didn't think of that… I can't imagine hurting them! They're so…"

"Pretty?" Demyx put in. "Aw! Does Axel have a crush?" he laughed.

"Shut up, Demyx! Just… help me get rid of them!"

"How are we supposed to when we can't even see them?" Xion questioned.

Xigbar laughed cruelly. "Just start shooting! Maybe they're invisible." he summoned his arrowguns.

"No! Don't kill them, just get rid of them!"

All the other Nobodies just looked at Axel like he was nuts. Though at that point, he probably _was_.

"Uh, how—" Roxas started, but the maids appeared in the middle of the room before he could finish that thought.

"Drink milk, Axel-Chan!" one in a purple dress held up a pitcher.

"No!" Axel yelled, but tried to get a grip on himself. "U-uh, guys, meet, er, Boronia, Bridget, Bellona, and, uh… Bologna and all their other sisters. And their cow."

"Bologna? Like that nasty 'meat' Kiddo here likes?" Xigbar asked.

"My name is Roxas!" the blonde growled. "And it's not nasty! I think it's quite—"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever!" Axel threw his hands up. "Just get rid of them all ready!"

"Come now, Axel," Luxord protested. "I do not believe ladies as fine as these should be disposed of."

They giggled as the gambler bowed slightly.

"Okay, you take them, then!" Axel exclaimed.

"But we are your gifts, Axel-Chan!" Branwan, the one in the purple dress said. "Luxord-Kun shall get what is coming to him soon enough."

The way she said it sounded so menacing, Luxord gulped slightly, but retained his charming smile nonetheless. "No worries, Axel. Go along now; I'll take care of them."

Without another word, Axel grabbed Roxas and Xion's wrists and dragged them into a dark corridor.

The trio walked out in front of the Twilight Town clock tower, but Axel was still clutching their arms, like he was scared they were going to run away from him.

"U-uh, Axel?" Xion whimpered. "Y-you're hurting me."

"Wha—oh." he let go of them and looked around with wide eyes.

"Are you okay, Axel?" Roxas looked concerned as he rubbed his sore wrist.

"Yeah," Axel laughed, distraught. "Perfectly fine. What would make you think otherwise?"

"Well… those girls. They really seemed to bother you, yet… you wouldn't destroy them. Why?" Roxas asked.

"I DON'T LIKE THEM, OKAY?"

Roxas put up his hands in defense. "I know, I know! But I don't think you need to yell… I mean, no one can like someone the day they met them... can they?"

Axel sighed. "Roxas, I'm having a rough day. Forget about my outbursts, or… just try to ignore them, s'kay? I'm going to go get the ice cream, you guys head up."

Roxas and Xion nodded, and soon, all three friends were on top of the tower, with their blue ice cream bars. Axel had gotten over his craze, more or less, but he didn't understand why the other two looked so crestfallen. They were barely licking their frozen treats, and neither of them had spoken a word since he had gotten back to them. Maybe in the five minutes he had been getting the ice cream they had talked about something that made them so… so blah.

"Hey, no need to talk so much, guys." Axel chuckled after a few more minutes of silence.

After a few moments, Roxas sighed. "Axel… do me and Xion really belong in the Organization?"

He blinked at this strange question, and took a second for him to finally swallow the melty bite that was in his mouth. "Well… it all depends on how you look at it. Why do you ask?"

"Well, we were thinking," Xion started. Uh oh, it was never a good thing when those two got to thinking. "That, well… it sounds dumb. Maybe we shouldn't have brought it up."

"Hey, I'm all ears."

"How can you be made out of… all ears?" Roxas shook his head in confusion. "Never mind… Uh, well, there's this Twelve Days of Christmas thing, right? So—"

"Wait, wait, wait, hold up." Axel put his hands up to stop him. "Please don't tell me that this is about you guys not getting special gifts about that stupid 'Earth' song Zexion told us about. Let me tell you, you do _not_ want one."

Xion giggled a little. "That's not it, silly! It's because, well… we did a little research into it with books that Zexion gave us, and they say that this is, like, a special thing—uh, 'divine,' I think it said…?" she looked at Roxas, and he nodded.

"Yeah, divine. I'm not sure what that means, but it must be good. It said its history has to do with something divine. So we figured, twelve must be a perfect number, and there were twelve Nobodies in Organization XIII before we came. So do we not belong in the Organization?" the two looked so concerned about this, it made Axel feel a little bad for their disposition.

"Roxas…" he started slowly, carefully choosing his words. "You're the _thirteen_ in _Organization_ _XIII_. Don't you think that's good?"

"…I guess that makes sense. But what about Xion?"

Axel bit his lip on this one, trying to come up with a believable not-exactly-true reason on the spot. He wasn't stupid—he knew what Xion really was. "Well, you're like… an extra bonus."

Xion's eyes widened, but not in the good way.

"I mean, uh, like, we didn't _need_ you to come into the Organization, but we still, er, brought you in. Which, ah, makes things better."

"Oh, okay then…" the girl still didn't look very happy.

Axel sighed; these two were just impossible to please. "Let's just say this: you guys were meant to be in the Organization, or else you wouldn't be here. Let's just leave it at that."

They didn't respond.

"And… your presences make things better—for me, at least. Now get _that_ memorized."

Roxas and Xion finally looked up, with big smiles plastered on their faces. "Thanks, Axel, you're the best friend any Nobody could have." Roxas said, and Xion nodded.

"No need to get sappy…" he rolled his eyes.

Xion laughed a little, but looked thoughtful again. "Axel, what was Christmas like when you still had a heart?"

He grimaced. Lea's family had never really had much money, and the holidays usually weren't spectacular times for them. "Well… I spent a lot of time with my friend Isa." But as soon as the words came out of his mouth, Axel cursed himself.

"…Isa? You never mentioned an Isa before." Roxas pondered this.

"Yeah, just forget about that. He's nobody, really."

"Nobody? He's a Nobody too?" Xion asked, wide eyes.

"No! That's not what I meant! Just forget I ever said that!" Axel put his hand on his forehead, though the fight was over. How stupid was he?

"Isa… Xasi… Axis…" they were muttering. "Sixa… Saxi… Siax… Saïx!" they exclaimed at once.

"YOU WERE FRIENDS WITH _SAIX_?" Roxas exclaimed.

"No! This was a, er… different Isa! Yeah, me and Saïx? _Never_." he laughed nervously, hoping that the two Nobodies' gullibility would kick in soon.

"Oh…" Roxas breathed a sigh of relief. "You scared us there for a second!"

"Yeah!" Xion agreed. "Just thinking that you could have been friends with Saïx bothers me…" she shuddered. "I don't think he could ever have a friend, especially a good one like you!"

"You have no idea…" he muttered, and shoved the ice cream bar into his mouth.

The rest of the day went pretty smoothly from then on. Luxord had found a few rooms for the eight maids a-milking to stay in, but he made no promises that they wouldn't bother Axel anymore. Of course, he knew when to make a prediction, and now was not the time.

And so, for the next few days, those who looked upon the pyrotechnic could only say: "Poor, poor Axel. Sure glad I didn't wind up with those psychos. No one ever said beauty isn't crazy…"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Tomorrow's is Demyx!**


	9. Chapter IX

**Sadly, I don't think this is one of my better chapters. The way it turned out kind of dissapoints me...**

**Disclaimer: Full rights to Kingdom Hearts go to Square Enix and Disney...**

**Chapter Nine :: Nine Drummers Drumming**

This was a good week for Demyx. Ever since Xemnas gave into Zexion's ideas, he had gotten to wake up late, go on _no_ missions, do whatever he wanted to—it was a slacker's dream. So as Demyx rubbed his eyes and yawned widely, he woke up to another blissful day of nothingness. He wasn't exactly sure of what time it was, considering it always looked like night in the World That Never Was, but he was still pretty sure that it was late in the morning.

He was excited that they were celebrating Christmas, and was even happy about this whole "Twelve Days of Christmas" stuff everyone was worrying about. It seemed pretty chill to him. And besides, today was _his_ day! The day he would get his special gifts and start his band and—

Demyx stared wide-eyed into his room when he finally sat up. His "unexpected Christmas cheer" had come! Whoever left it must have done it while he was sound asleep, because he didn't remember anyone coming in before…

His eyes lingered on the brightly wrapped gifts, and he jumped out of his bed to get a closer look. Each one had a tag on it that said "Don't open till Christmas!" But Demyx was sure that no one would notice if he opened just _one_. Besides, they were his gifts, in his room—who would even know? He pounced on the present, ready to tear into the paper; but as his finger got under the first piece of tape, an electric shock went through his hand and up his arm.

"Ow… what was that for?"

The tag on it lit up, displaying the letter more vibrantly.

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered. "I know! Don't open till Christmas! Sheesh… was that really necessary?" Demyx cradled the shocked hand. "You would think that Larxene would have programmed the wrapper…"

The blinking stopped, but the Nobody's attention was already taken from it. His eyes were glued to a paper that was attached to the tree. He took it skeptically, and read the simple words written in bold font on it: _Go to the kitchen_.

"Sounds simple enough," he shrugged. "I was hungry, anyway."

Demyx took one last longing look at the presents before creating a dark corridor to the kitchen. Awaiting him as he arrived were two very unhappy Nobodies and a very irritated Axel.

"Guys, you need to get it cleaned up! The popcorn has just been lying here for almost three days now!" Axel waved his hand around the room. "You need to get it done."

Those girls who had been chasing Axel the day before were all standing behind him. Demyx thought he had gotten rid of them.

"Yes!" Boronia exclaimed, and her sisters chimed in. "Do what Axel-Chan says! Axel-Chan knows best!"

He turned around. "Ladies, ladies, I've got this! Just… milk your cow or something!"

Demyx blinked. "Wait, you're making them work… on a break! Axel, I thought you were one of us!"

"Well, this mess needs to get cleaned up, and they're the ones who made it!"

"But Axel, we only have, like, four more days till Christmas! Can't you just let them do the work afterward?"

"Yeah, Demyx knows what he's talking about!" Roxas chimed in, but stopped from Axel's look.

"No."

"You know, you're starting to sound a lot like Xemnas!" Xion pouted.

"The quicker you clean, the faster you'll be done." Axel crossed his arms.

"You're no fun…"

During the conversation between friends, Demyx had poured himself a big bowl of cereal and sat down at the table. He looked back and forth between the other Nobodies as they spoke, completely absorbed in their argument.

Roxas and Xion started sweeping again for a time, but it wasn't for long until they tried to make lighter conversation, possibly to distract their supervisor.

"Hey," Roxas started. "I heard that Xigbar still couldn't shoot those birds down. Some of the others think there's some kind of magic put on them so they don't die."

"Ooh, that's weird!" Xion tried to put her most interested face on.

"Yeah, and—"

"You two—back to work." Axel pointed at them, then to their brooms. "Chop-chop."

As he finished his breakfast, the Nobody thought about that. Maybe Xigbar couldn't do it, but Demyx was sure _he_ could. He just needed a gun, then he would prove just how awesome he was… then a thought dawned on him.

"Hey, Axel, what do you think about me getting a gun? I mean, it _is_ Christmas time right now, I'm sure I could ask for one. Do you think that's a good idea?"

Axel's face had a terrible look on it, like he was imagining just what chaos Demyx would cause with a loaded gun. He didn't even trust _Xigbar_ with his guns, sometimes. "No, don't do that. You'll shoot your eye out."

"Didn't I just hear that phrase somewhere…?" Roxas asked.

Axel snapped his fingers at him. "Work. Now."

"Well… I'm going to go ask someone else what they think. I'm sure _someone_ will think it's a good idea!" And with that, Demyx headed for the kitchen door. But as he approached it, he found another piece of paper attached. This time it said: _Go to the Gray Area_.

And so Demyx followed the directions. The only person he found there was Xaldin, who was lounging on one of the white couches. He immediately ran up to him. "Xaldin! I have to find Xigbar; do you know where he is?"

"Not the slightest idea." was all he replied.

"Oh… well, do you think it would be cool if I got a gun?"

Xaldin just stared at Demyx like that thought disturbed him severely. "You would shoot your eye out."

"Hey, that's exactly what Axel said!"

"Yes, yes, if you insist." he replied with little interest. "Say, would you mind synthesizing something for me?" Xaldin quirked an eyebrow.

"No thanks, I have to find Xigbar." Demyx turned to leave.

"I'll give you materia for it, so you don't have to use your own."

"Naw,"

"Munny?"

He stopped. "How much?"

Xaldin spread his hands. "Enough to make it worthwhile."

"Okay, then…" Demyx got the directions from his comrade and headed to the Organization's moogle.

"What do you want, kupo?" the moogle inquired.

"Uh… synthesize this stuff, or whatever." he handed the objects to the little flying creature.

The job was soon finished, and the moogle handed the completed object to Demyx. "Good business, kupo."

"Uh… thanks, I guess?" he started to walk back to Xaldin, but it spoke back up.

"Go to training room, kupo."

"What? Why would I want to go there? I hate that place!" Demyx exclaimed, almost dropping the synthesized metal.

"They said to, kupo."

"Who's _they_?"

"No matter, just go, kupo." it waved its little arms, motioning for Demyx to do what it told him to.

Demyx returned the completed object to Xaldin, took his munny—which was barely any; he was ripped off!—and headed for the training rooms.

As far as he could remember, Demyx had never visited the training rooms. Maybe during his very _first_ day as a Nobody, but he was pretty sure he didn't need strenuous training. It just wasn't how he rolled. Besides, as much as he disliked fighting, he preferred to do it on the field, where he could get distracted by something and run off. In those bleak grey rooms… he couldn't pretend to get whisked away with something more interesting.

He didn't feel like going there, but he was guessing that that was where Xigbar was—Demyx was sure moogles _must_ know everything. And, of course, it had been right. There was the Freeshooter, who looked like he had just finished some heavy battle. Sweat was dripping down his face, and stray pieces of hair were sticking to his forehead.

"What're you doin' here?" he motioned with one of his guns at Demyx as he approached.

"H-hey! No need to point that!" he pushed the arrowgun down. "I was just wondering… did you ever get rid of those… pigeons, or whatever they were?"

"That aint any of your business. Now scram, before I actually _do_ decide to shoot you." he hefted one of the guns on his shoulder.

"O-oh, okay. But first, do you think I should get a gun? I think I'd be pretty good with one! They seem easy enough to shoot—like, you just aim and pull a trigger!" he made motions with his fingers, and little _pew pew_ noises.

Xigbar chuckled. "You'll shoot your eye out, kid. And it's not a pleasant experience, let me tell you." he tilted his head, putting emphasis on the patch that was over his right eye.

"If you say so… but I still want one…" Demyx created a dark corridor, and walked away. He never wanted to visit that place ever again—it was bleak and terrible. If _he_ had created them, he probably would've added a little life or something. Who designed this castle anyway? They hadn't done a very good job.

At least his room looked good. That's another reason why Demyx loved Christmas. The decorations always added a little color to the castle, and just made things livelier in general. Sometimes, during the rest of the year, Demyx would just sit in a dark corridor and play his sitar so he could have something interesting to look at. All the floating Nobody symbols were so mesmerizing… Demyx caught himself in the hypnotic trance he seemed to be in, remembering that he was still in the corridor, and was in fact drifting off from all the swirling colors.

He then remembered there were no directions about where to go next. He had liked those—Demyx didn't have to decide what to do, that just took more thinking. Now where would he go? He hadn't been to the music hall that day… Yeah, playing his sitar always made him happy!

Demyx redirected the portal to let him out there, and what he got was quite a surprise. Set up all along the walls were Christmas decorations. The Nobody looked around excitedly, almost about to start hopping. Now he didn't have to decorate it himself! That would take so much effort, after all…

Soon, people he hadn't seen at first stepped out from behind music stands and equipment. There were nine people in all, and they all featured different ethnicities and cultures.

"Oh, oh, oh! Are you those drummers that I was promised to get?" the Nobody ran to a man in front, who had shaved his head, except for a tall, hot pink Mohawk down the center. Demyx couldn't but snicker. "You look like Marluxia when he's having a bad hair day!"

The man folded his arms. "Says mullet-man over here. Your hair went out of style a long time ago, bro." When he talked, the numerous piercings on his ears and face jingled.

"Hey, my hair looks good!"

"Just keep telling yourself that, man. Oh, and I think this for you." the punk-rocker handed Demyx a card.

On _the ninth day of Christmas, - gave to you nine drummers drumming_. "All right!" he fist pumped the air. "Are you guys ready to make an _awesome_ band?"

The guy looked over him skeptically. "What exactly do _you_ play?"

"Something better than the drums!" the Melodious Nocturne put his hand above his head, and summoned his giant sitar through a globe of water. The instrument was brought down, and Demyx played a few strings on it, then looked up. "Whaddya think?"

"Lame." the guy took out a pair of wooden drumsticks and walked over to the nearest percussion set. He sat down and started banging on the drums rhythmically, yet really fast. He was good, Demyx had to admit, but he never would have admitted it openly.

"So, uh… what's your name?" Demyx asked.

The drummer stopped, and looked at him. "The name's Keith. And you're, like, Dumbyx, right?"

"It's _Dem_yx, thank you very much." he didn't like this guy very much. He was mean.

"Like I care. Oh, and these are the others," he waved his drumstick at the people. "I didn't feel like learning their names—and half of them don't even speak our lingo—but, uh, the others play the bongos, conga, timpani, tabla, tamtam, marching drum, and whatever those are." Keith pointed to a strange looking drum that was held under a man's arm. "And then a few of us, like me, play on full drum sets."

Demyx blinked a few times. There were older people, younger people, and people you couldn't really tell what age they were in the room, most with drums he had never even seen before. "I have a question."

Keith rolled his eyes. "Dude, I already said I don't know what their names are."

"No, that's not what I meant. Like… are these 'Earth' drums? I've seen a few of them, but nothing like a congo or bonga."

"It's 'conga' and 'bongo,' idiot. And of course they're earth drums, are you stupid?"

"Oh… hey, I'm not stupid!" Demyx put his hands up in protest. "But let's just start playing, okay? All this pointless bullying is wasting time!"

The rest of that day didn't exactly go… smoothly for Demyx. Let's just say that "Demyx and the Drummers" will never be a band that'll tour by your city.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I don't even have tomorrow's chapter finished... I probably should have started writing this story earlier than the beginning of this month... Well, tomorrow's focuses on Luxord, though I'm sure you all ready figured that out.**


	10. Chapter X

**Oi, these new chapters are annoying me! This has got to be the least best one yet...**

**Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own it.**

**Chapter Ten :: Ten Ladies Dancing**

Life was just a game, a gamble—the first one, _and_ the nonexistent one. He liked to take chances; after all, that's what a decent game was about. Strategy and skill were good too, but Luxord especially loved the thrill of not knowing what was going to happen as a result of the chances he took. Besides, luck was almost always with him; he didn't have much to fear.

And that is why Luxord enjoyed surprises. When this whole people-getting-into-the-castle-and-leaving-presents thing came up, it had taken the entire Organization by surprise. And so, I'm sure you can imagine which Nobody was the only one thrilled by this. Yup, the Gambler of Fate.

But what didn't thrill him was the fact that there were a bunch of ballerinas in his room that morning before Christmas Eve. They were flipping around and doing twirls and almost knocked down his shelf for poker trophies—multiple times. One had upset a table in the corner, and cards were now all over the floor.

"Please, settle down," Luxord tried to say in his best negotiating voice. "I'll take you out into the courtyard, where there's a spectacular view of Kingdom Hearts, and you can dance to your hearts' content—"

No one was listening, of course. One of the girls got up on her tippy toes, and her foot accidentally landed on a stray card. She tripped, and set off a chain reaction, to Luxord's horror. The dancer fell into another one, and that one knocked over another lady, and that ballerina reached out her hand to steady herself. The only thing in her grasping range was the trophy shelf—I'm sure you can imagine what happened from there.

Her fingers caught on the wood, and for a split second, she caught herself, and just hung there. The Nobody let a sigh of relief slip out, but it didn't last long. A creak was heard—one nail came out of the wall, making everything slide to one side, then the other came loose. The whole shelf—and when the authoress says "shelf," she does not mean a dinky one for holding t-ball trophies; she's talking huge, full of glass and many trophies that would hurt if bashed over the head with—came down with a loud _CRASH_!

Glass shattered and metal clanged, and all of the ballerinas scattered out of the way of the projectiles. Only one was hit—the lady who had knocked the shelf over in the first place—and was now bleeding in multiple places. Her fellow dancers helped to pick her up, and they walked out of the room without a single word.

Luxord blinked, first trying to get over the randomness, then trying to piece together in his mind that his entire collection of gambling trophies had just been dropped on the ground, most of them destroyed. There was no way he would be able to replace them all… most of them had been one of a kind collectables! He had won them from all over the universe—from at least fifty-two different worlds—during his Somebody life and Nobody life. The shattered mess was almost enough to make him cry… if he was sad about it, that is. He didn't feel any grief or anger over his destroyed collection—just horror, sheer, utter horror.

The gambler vowed that from that time on that he would never use wood and nails to put up any shelves ever again. He gathered the trophies and medals that were still intact, and set them upright safely in the corner. A thought passed through his mind before he swept up the broken glass, though. Perhaps Vexen had a device that could put the seemingly impossible task back together.

"My dear lovely accolades, I shall get you back to presentable quality once again," he muttered as he gently put the broken pieces into a bag. He then created a dark corridor, aimed for the castle's laboratory.

* * *

><p>"No, absolutely not!" Vexen fumed. "I do not understand why every Nobody in this light-forsaken Organization believes that I can work miracles with simple science! I am <em>not<em> a mere handyman!"

"Now Vexen," Luxord prompted casually. "_I_ would be proud if the others came to me, thinking I could fix their problems with my, ah, 'miracles.' I should think you would also."

"Fool!" he shrieked. "I do indeed realize that I am one of the most important members in this group of idiots, and that my science _can_ work miracles! But I do _not_ do work for impetuous _upstarts_ who have no respect for their elders!"

Luxord almost laughed at how worked up his comrade was getting—he could be quite amusing sometimes. "You realize that _I_ am not young, do you not? I may not be the oldest here, but I certainly respect others who have made it this far in the game."

"Must _everything_ relate to poker with you?" The scientist exclaimed. "This is not a _game_! One wrong move and we could all be destroyed, never to see our hearts again!"

He smirked. "In other words, a simple mistake could result in anyone's elimination. You must realize, Vexen, yes, this _is_ all a game." He then waved the matter aside. "Now, will you or will you not perform the task I have for you?"

Vexen scowled into the bag of glass. "No promises… the device I created is only being tested right now, and it has taken me years to build. Now, I require a large payment for all the jobs I fill, and I do understand you have a way with making deals. So what do you propose, Luxord?"

The Nobody smiled; a good negotiation was always enjoyable. "Munny? I—"

"No, I have that all ready." Vexen cut him off.

"Now, let me explain myself. I have recently run across a way to make large amounts of munny, much more than you would think."

He snorted. "I know." he grimaced, remembering the multiple times he had been stupid enough to make a bet with Luxord. "You con poor unsuspecting souls into gambling with you. Your methods are nothing new."

"Ah, but you _don't_ know. I have ways even _you_ have no ideas of."

Vexen looked thoughtful. "Now, what would that be?"

Luxord smiled wryly. "It's called the black market, my dear comrade."

The other snorted. "Now what would you be selling on that? Chocobos? Slaves?"

"Ah, that secret stays with me. Now, has the deal been sealed?"

"Fine, munny will do." he said, then put up a finger. "But I require something else."

"Whatever you please," Luxord confirmed, spreading his hands.

"I am lacking the essential materia for many of my projects. I need much of it."

Luxord sighed inwardly. He had been short on the rare material also; he would have to earn it from the others. Maybe they wouldn't gamble with munny, but he was pretty sure they would take their chances with the expert gambler with their materia.

He headed off to the Gray Area after shaking hands with Vexen, and sure enough found a few Nobodies there.

"Who's ready for a classy game of cards?" he called as he shuffled a deck.

"O-oh no! I've become smarter than to play go fish with you!" Demyx held his hands up.

"Now, do you really expect us to be fooled into losing all of our munny to you?" Xaldin pointed out. "It's happened one too many times."

"What if we aren't playing with munny?" Luxord asked innocently, and sat down at a table.

"Hmm…" Xigbar thought about it. "I'm listenin'."

He smiled. "Materia. I thought that perhaps playing for munny has gotten a bit old. And really, I prefer to play for the thrill of the game."

"Materia? Why ever would you want that?" Zexion walked over to the table.

"Just a little project is all, nothing important." Luxord said as he dealt the cards. "And how does this sound: I'll go a bit easy on you." he took the unsure nods from the others as a yes. "Now, who's ready to play?"

* * *

><p>An hour later, Luxord the left a room with much materia, and four very annoyed Nobodies watched him leave.<p>

"Well, that was… interesting." Zexion fingered his last piece of glowing metal he had managed to save.

"And I thought we had learned better than to play cards with him." Xaldin sighed. "Perhaps even the smartest of Nobodies can be fooled into playing with a master gambler."

Demyx laughed. "Yeah, you guys were idiots for doing that!"

"Hmph. You're the one to speak," Xigbar said. "You lost all of yours."

"Yeah, but I wasn't a genius in the first place! I thought you guys were smarter than that. Well, maybe not Xigbar…"

The others just glared at him.

Meanwhile, Luxord was on his way to gather the munny he needed to pay off Vexen.

You see, Luxord had always had a way with the black market in many worlds, and when Earth was discovered, he found out some interesting things. As stupid as it may sound, it appeared that raw milk was becoming harder to get, and it wasn't allowed to be imported in certain regions. Of course, he saw this as a perfect opportunity to make a good wage when Axel's milkmaid problem came up. He wouldn't have taken them in so kindly if he hadn't seen any gain coming from it. Luxord may have been an excellent gambler, but he was also a skilled businessman and con-artist. It was just the way he did things.

He eventually got to where the maids were staying, and he opened the door.

"Milk!" they cried when they saw Luxord. "Here is your milk!" Two of them handed him pitchers.

"Hmm… is this all?" he asked as he took one in each hand.

"Why of course, Brietta cannot give too much milk every day. It is not possible!" Boronia explained.

"Yes, I suppose so," he nodded, and headed for the door. "My sincerest apologies for making you feel obligated for more. Thank you, I shall be going now."

The door closed behind him. Of the many things Luxord knew how to do, getting women to comply by simply talking to them was one of his strong points. He smiled at his cunningness, but didn't at all see what was about to hit him. Literally.

Ten dancing ladies ran smack dab into his back, and he fell. So did the pitchers of precious liquid. For some reason, the women found no problem with this, and kept on dancing, right over Luxord and down the hall. Thankfully, the pitchers didn't shatter, but now the milk was all over the floor, and he wouldn't be able to sell it.

He bit his tongue and ran into his room—he would let the dusks clean the mess up. He took out a stash of munny he had acquired over the past two days. He had gotten dollars, pounds, and even yen transferred into munny through the Organization's moogle, and now most of it would have to be used.

For a second, Luxord wondered whether his trophies were really worth so much to him. He shook his head, clearing that thought. _Of course they were_. Besides, his very first trophy had been destroyed, and he wasn't ready to just throw away his impressive collection.

His stupid "presents" were ruining his livelihood! What would they take away from him next, his cards? His cards! Luxord walked frantically about the room, looking in all the places he kept spare decks. He was, well, more or less surprised to find that they were all gone. Out of paranoia, he summoned his weapon, and thankfully the entire deck was still there. He dismissed them, then gathered the materia and munny, and headed off to Vexen's laboratory. He would find his cards later.

When he arrived, the scientist was all ready at the door to meet him.

"Have you brought what I require?" he looked at his client impatiently.

"Vexen, is that really the first question you want to ask? Perhaps you should show me the finished product before I choose to give my precious savings away. How should I know whether you really filled my task or not, hmm?" Luxord cocked an eyebrow.

"Why ever would I do that? I am a man of my word, and I am surprised you would ever think otherwise!"

"One must always have his guard up," Luxord countered. "You never know when someone has false pretenses, especially when they hold a good poker face."

Vexen almost looked as if he wanted to comment on that, but he shut his mouth and led the other inside.

The crystal trophies were lined up on one counter, all in seemingly perfect condition. But with closer inspection, it could be seen that little pieces were missing here and there. That didn't particularly bother Luxord, but he noticed something else.

"Wait, one is missing. Where is it?"

Vexen examined the lineup. "Ah, yes. Unfortunately, one was not able to be repaired. The damage was too great."

"That was the most important one…" he sighed. "My very first poker championship trophy…"

"My dearest apologies, but if you do not mind, I would like my payment now."

Luxord shelled out the vast amounts of materia and munny, gathered his treasures, and left. Once he exited the dark corridor, he looked at the broken shelf.

"Now, why did I never think of a built-in shelf…? Such a novel idea, too…"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And thanks for the encouraging words, guys. I'm just not feeling my author abilities are too good right now...**


	11. Chapter XI

** Okay,** **this chapter is... short. I was busy today, and didn't have much time to write, and I'm having to rush to get this on before tomorrow. So please, ignore any careless mistakes I may have not seen.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, or the brand Miracle Grow.**

**Chapter Eleven :: Eleven Pipers Piping**

It was Christmas Eve, and the Castle That Never Was looked amazing. The giant tree in the center was fully decorated, completed with thousands of beautiful ornaments and even more twinkling lights. The Gray Area looked equally good, with intricate paper snowflakes hung up in the widow, boughs of holly lining the walls, and even a sprig of mistletoe was hung over the doorway. Now all they wished for was snow, but that was sincerely doubtful, seeing that it almost never snowed in that world. Only drizzly, dreary rain—and even then, it was only in the Dark City.

The only thing that seemed to be out of the festive mood was… Marluxia's garden. For some reason, none of his plants would bloom, and that irritated him greatly. The roses were wilted, the petunias were dying, and the ivy was starting to fall off the wall. The Nobody couldn't seem to fix any off it, and this irritated him greatly. _Nothing_ was working.

In his entire Nobody life, Marluxia had cared for his sweet plants more than anything. The only thing that rivaled his attention for them was his plotting with Larxene, but that was all about to come to fruition soon anyway. But the problem at hand was what really occupied his mind.

"My darlings, what ails you so?" he whispered as he gently lifted a rose. A petal fell off in his hand, and he let it fall to the ground. He glared up at Kingdom Hearts, which casted a nice moonlit glow on the garden. "Can't you do anything about this?" he growled at the floating heart. "Sure, you hold all the power of Light and Darkness—you can even give us back our hearts! But why can't you fix this?"

He picked up a rock and threw it as hard as he could at Kingdom Hearts, knowing it would fail to hit it, of course. The gesture was just to release his nonexistent anger. Now, seeing the angle that he was standing at, and the position on the castle that his garden was located—being lower than the highest rooftop, but also being situated on the top of a terrace—where the rock went was not… good. It was meant to go up and over one of the walls, but it fell short. And anyone who has a basic understanding of the Castle That Never Was knows that many walls were just giant panes of glass.

Yup, it went right through one. Sure, if a mere human had thrown it, it would not have even made a scratch on the glass—it probably wouldn't have even gone far enough to reach it. But we're talking a full-fledged Nobody, with super strength and un-humanistic powers. So _of_ _course_ it broke the window! What else would you have expected?

The pane came down with an extremely loud _crash!_, but thankfully it wasn't the window to the Gray Area. It was probably just one of the windows to the room the giant Christmas tree was put up in. After the sound of tinkling glass stopped, Marluxia instantly calmed himself down. He realized he was acting childish, and this was something Demyx would do, not a well to do man like himself.

A few shouts were heard, and like anyone trying to act inconspicuous and innocent, he headed over to the sight to check out what was happening. When he arrived, he looked around with wide eyes. "What happened here?"

Zexion was standing in the empty windowsill, looking out of it with sheer horror. "M-my library! Now there's glass everywhere! What am I supposed to do?"

Marluxia now figured that the rock had hit a, well, more _important_ room. Oops.

Demyx laughed a little. "Hah, this looks like something I would accidentally do!"

Zexion glared at him, and Marluxia raised an eyebrow. "Precisely what I was thinking."

He put up his hands. "Wow, wait, you don't think I did this, do you?"

No one responded.

"Marluxia, why do you have to say things like that?" he whined. "I didn't do anything!"

Zexion waved his hand in the air irritably. "Just… find some Dusks! I need this mess cleaned up and this window replaced!"

"I think the Dusks are really overlooked, you know what I mean?" Roxas—who had just shown up with Axel and Xion—put in. "Like, we use them for battle simulations, for scouting, for cleaning, for cooking, for playing pranks on each other, for—"

"Okay, I think we get the point." Axel stopped him. "But what happened here?"

"Hey, don't look at me!" the Melodious Nocturne exclaimed.

"…I wasn't." Axel shook his head.

By this time, Marluxia had all ready left, off to look for something good to aid his precious flowers. He had quite a bit of time on his hands, seeing that almost all the missions had been called off. He was heading to his room—maybe he had some special plant growth formula he had forgotten about stashed away in the back of his dresser or something.

When he arrived, he started rummaging through his closet. Among an extra Organization cloak, some boots, synthetic flowers, special scythe polish, and many other things, he tossed some extra Potion and Cure behind him. Wait. Marluxia turned around and picked up the healing potions, and a new idea came to him.

After gathering them up, he created a dark corridor back to his garden. He quickly dumped the contents of the Potion bottles onto the roses, and cast the Cure on the rest of his plants. He waited patiently for something to happen. And waited. And waited. And… waited. Nothing happened. He sighed dejectedly. Maybe the moogle would have something… they _always_ had something.

* * *

><p>"Sorry, no Miracle Grow here, kupo." The moogle told him.<p>

Marluxia sighed and walked away. He didn't even see the necessity of saving time by corridoring to his garden—it was all ready a lost cause to get it looking good by Christmas Day. As he walked down the bleak white halls, the faint sound of flutes was echoing off the walls. He stopped and looked around, but didn't see anybody. As he continued walking, the sound got louder and louder. Finally, a melodious harmony could be heard from right behind him.

The Graceful Assassin's scythe was out before he even turned around to see his assailant. But once he saw who it was, he dismissed the dangerous weapon.

"Let me guess," he started slowly. "You are my gifts, ah… eleven…?"

"Pipers piping!" one said gleefully.

"Ah, right."

The men all had long, gray beards that went down to their collarbones. Each one was dressed like Santa's elves, with pied shirts of green and red, and little jangling bells on the tips of their shoes and hats. They looked like the perfect crew of toymakers, but only one thing ruined the look: their height. Each one was about as tall as Marluxia, and their clothes looked a little too small for them.

The Nobody turned on his heel without another word, and the pipers followed him—all the way to his garden, playing their pipes—flutes, whichever—the whole way. Marluxia wasn't about to get rid of them either; he wasn't really in the mood. Besides, the music was calming…

He was really glad he hadn't taken them all out with one swipe of his Graceful Dahlia, too, because as soon as they got to the dying garden, something amazing happened. With the sound of the pipes, the entire array of plants seemed to perk up. The roses bloomed, the ivy laced back up the wall, and even the grass seemed to be greener than ever.

Marluxia was staring out at his special part of the castle, wide-eyed. He spun around to look at the pipers, but all that remained were the lingering echoes of their music, leaving him alone in a flourishing garden, astonished—maybe a bit freaked out, but glad nonetheless. Best gift _ever_.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I had to make at least one chapter end happily, you know? Well, tomorrow ends this all! So happy...**


	12. Chapter XII

**Wow... last chapter. Well, enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: For the last time, I do _not_ own Kingdom Hearts!**

**Chapter Twelve :: Twelve Lords a-Leaping**

Christmas Day had arrived, but the identity of the mysterious gift giver—or givers—had not been figured out yet, and the strange gifts hadn't ceased to come in, either. Xemnas found this quite irritating, seeing how Zexion's plan had failed. It didn't comfort him that his organization was enjoying this time of festive break, either. In fact, it bothered him. He shouldn't have been so foolish as to give into the plan so easily, without another thought. It had probably just been a ploy of some sort—and who knows; maybe the Nobodies themselves had set it all up!

His mind was troubled as he stared up at Kingdom Hearts, and he barely stirred as he heard a dark corridor open and close behind him. "What is it, Saïx?"

He cleared his throat. "We… we are having special festivities down in the Gray Area. We wanted to see if you would like to join in."

"No. This blasted holiday is just… not meant for a Nobody like me."

Saïx blinked a few times. "We would love—ah, so to speak—to have you join us. It would be our honor to have your rare presence in our midst."

"I want nothing of it." Xemnas scoffed. "Whoever or whatever started this whole defiling of my orders… no, I will not."

It was quiet for a while, until the bluenette finally spoke back up. "Ah… this sounds foolish, I know, but… the others were wondering what you got in your presents. They were too intimidated to ask you themselves. That is, if you even _did_ open them."

Xemnas looked at his second in command incredulously, but turned back around and sighed. "Many 'Star Wars' related presents. The notes said I would 'love' them. Stupidity… if I _could_ love, I wouldn't have this Organization full of idiots!" he put a hand to his forehead. "I don't even know what this 'Star Wars' is…"

"My apologies for their incompetence, Superior. We _will_ find out who did this, and put them to justice." Saïx said. "And if I may say this… I do not see why you have such a grudge against this holiday."

He took a minute to respond, and started slowly. "Saïx… I see no point in this merry gift giving—_especially_ among emotionless Nobodies such as ourselves. Why, if I could work my will, every idiot who goes about with "Merry Christmas" on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. Or empty chest, it depends on who it is."

Saïx didn't respond to this, but merely walked through a corridor of darkness back to the Gray Area, leaving the Superior on the highest rooftop to stare deeply at Kingdom Hearts, only an echo of nothingness resting in his empty chest.

* * *

><p>The rest of the Organization was in the Gray Area, celebrating and having a good time. But Larxene was the one probably finding it most enjoyable. True to her sadistic nature, her gifts—twelve lords a-leaping—were now twelve <em>slaves<em> a-leaping.

"You, pudgy, I need water; go get me some! Demyx is annoying me; go shut him up, will you? Fetch me some cake, you bum!" she was ordering them about, and when they weren't leaping, she would electrocute them. "Hey, you call yourself a 'lord a-leaping'? Then leap, you idiot!"

Everybody pretty much steered clear of her for the rest of the day.

And though Roxas and Xion had not been included in the Twelve Days of Christmas, they had still woken up to presents stashed in their rooms that Christmas morning, along with that wonderful "unexpected Christmas cheer" the others had been talking about. Christmas was a time of exhilarating wonder for the two, being only children. Axel was glad to see them so "happy," but it also weighed him down to see them like that, too. He knew these good days would just be a passing phase—it wouldn't last long. He was sure that this would be their first, last, and only Christmas in Organization XIII—if not Roxas, then definitely Xion. If he had a heart, the thought definitely would have depressed him.

But he plastered on a fake smile and put his hands on the two Nobodies' shoulders. "How does some sparkling cider sound?"

They smiled. "Sure, that sounds great, Axel!"

He nodded and walked over to the table that was set up next to the large window. Saïx was standing there also, looking out at Kingdom Hearts, a slightest bit of uncanny resemblance to Xemnas radiating from his posture.

Axel poured out three cups of the drink, and turned to go, but Saïx stopped him. "…You know it won't last long."

"Whatever could you be talking about?" Axel raised an eyebrow in mock curiosity.

Saïx narrowed his eyes at him. "You know very well what I am talking about."

He looked down. "Thanks for ruining a perfectly good mood…" Axel grumbled. "Now, if you don't mind, I'll be leaving before you try to destroy a perfectly good friendship. Again."

"Wait."

"What is it now?"

He sighed, and looked Axel square in the eye. "Enjoy it… while you can."

Axel looked thoughtful. "What, are you saying this so that you can just bring it down with 'cause it'll just cause you more trouble in the end,' or 'it'll never last'?" he even sneered a little bit out of his former friend's possible hidden meanings.

Saïx just turned back to look at the moon. "No… let's just say it's my way of giving 'Christmas wishes.'"

He just gave the other Nobody one last strange look, and headed back to his young friends.

On the other side of the Gray Area, Luxord was examining his last wrapped gift. "That's strange…" he murmured. There was no tag on it, and all the other ones he had received from the unknown giver had had gift tags on them…

Pushing that aside, he opened it up. Underneath was a plain brown box, and that was opened up too. When he stuck his hand inside, he just stopped. His fingers were clutched around the unmistakable feeling of…

Luxord pulled the glass object out and stared at it. And stared at it. And stared at it some more. In his hands, perfectly restored, was his very first poker championships trophy. He looked around for Vexen, and found him sitting at a couch on the other side of the room. As he approached, he found the scientist playing cards with Xaldin, Marluxia, and Xigbar. They looked up at him and immediately drew back.

"I should hope that you are not here to ask to play." Xaldin started immediately.

Luxord smiled cordially. "Your endearment touches me, really. But I am here to speak to Vexen."

Said Nobody looked up at him expectantly, and Luxord motioned to the trophy in his hand. "How…?"

Vexen laughed. "After receiving such a thorough payment from you, I thought that just _maybe_ I could put a little more work into that one. And it seems that it turned out!"

"Indeed…" he walked away, still staring at the crystal accolade.

Near them, Zexion was sitting on a couch, reading like usual, when one of his comrades came and rested beside him.

"You knew your plan wouldn't work, didn't you?"

He shrugged. "Maybe."

The other was silent for a while. "It was a good thing you did for them, Zexion."

He sighed. "I'm afraid so. It will probably be the last one I do, too."

"For the Organization… or for others?"

"I don't know, Lexaeus." he dismissed his lexicon. "This upcoming job at Castle Oblivion…" Zexion's voice trailed off.

"You still sense it will bring disaster?" The Silent Hero grunted.

Zexion stared at the wall. "Honestly, I'm not sure about anything anymore."

* * *

><p>After a few more hours of socializing, Organization XIII was pretty much finished off. They were all ready to start heading off to their separate ways when a strange shuffling was heard from outside the castle. They all glanced at each other, a little nervous. The noise immediately stopped, and they went back to their business.<p>

Of course, when they calmed back down, a semi-unanimous shout and giggles of several hundred female voices was heard. "MERRY CHRISTMAS, ORGANIZATION XIII!"

Drinks, food, and cards fell to the floor as the castle's residents jumped up. Even Larxene stopped ordering her slaves—er, gifts—around to summon her knives. The source of the gifts was now made apparent to the entire Organization—it was their worst nightmare—and they were now cursing themselves for not realizing this earlier. Only one word was muttered between them as weapons were drawn.

"_Fangirls_."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: It's said that screams could be heard all over the universe, coming from a mysterious world that is said not to even exist. Whether it was coming from the fangirls or the Organization, maybe a mix of both, no one knows.**

**Well, thanks sooo much for reading, guys! Your response to this story that I have put so much work into over the past month has really touched me! To those who reviewed: you guys really made me smile. Thanks! To those who put this story on their alerts and favorites list: thank you so much! It warmed my heart to know that so many people were enjoying this story. Free hugs for everybody!**

**Oh, and if you can spot the direct quote from Dicken's_ A Christmas Carol_ in this story, free virtual cookies for you! The one at the end of this note doesn't count, though :P**

**Anywho, with this final author's note, I would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas. I hope you all have had a wonderful holiday season. And in the words of the beloved Charles Dickens:**

**_May God bless us, every one._**

**Merry Christmas, readers.**


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